Summary WJEC criminology unit 3 - crime scene to courtroom AC2.1
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Course
Crime Scene to Courtroom (4543U3)
Institution
WJEC
Book
Criminology Book Two
This document includes notes and information about AC2.1 within unit 3 criminology that allowed me to achieve an A grade. Here you will find information about what the CPS are, their role in criminal investigations and how they determine if evidence is admissible in court.
Criminology Unit 3 - AC2.4 Asses the key influence affecting the outcomes of the criminal cases
Criminology Unit 3 - AC2.5 Discuss the use of lay people
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WJEC
Criminology
Crime Scene to Courtroom (4543U3)
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Criminology unit 3
2.1 Explain the requirements of the CPS for prosecuting suspects
What is the CPS?
The Crown Prosecution Service is the primary public criminal prosecuting agency within
England and Wales and is made up of roughly 6000 solicitors, lawyers and other support
staff. The CPS was initially established in 1986 as a new act of parliament on behalf of the
national interest, by The Prosecution of Offences Act, which stated that the CPS be set up.
The CPS is an unbiased and independent organisation which works closely with the police. It
was initially set up to prevent police being the primary body to decide about prosecutions,
due to them possessing prior knowledge about a case during an investigation which may
have led to bias during prosecution. Furthermore, police may produce bias prosecution
sentences due to, interests in pursuing certain people or groups or to uphold their
reputation. This means that since the CPS aims to be an unbiased organisation, it ensures
that there is more efficiency with the use of public money provided by taxpayers as there
would be less failed prosecutions.
What does the CPS do?
The role of the CPS in criminal investigations is to assess a case and the evidence related
thoroughly in order to support victims/witnesses with a suitable charge for the defendant
and ultimately rightfully deliver justice. The CPS also provide advice like types of evidence to
look for in an investigation or lines of enquiry to pursue to police and other individuals
which may be involved in the case in order to ensure that any offender within a case is
correctly and fairly prosecuted. Statutory charging was introduced after there were changes
made by the Criminal Justice act 2003, which saw that the authority to charge for major
offences, transferred from the police to the CPS. Ultimately, this means that CPS make the
decision whether a case should go to court or not. In order to help make this decision the
CPS use the ‘Full code test’, which consists of the Evidential Test and the Public Interest
Test. The Full Code Test helps ensure to ensure fairness when and consistency when
deciding which cases to prosecute.
Evidential test
The evidential test is the first test which is used when deciding if a case should go to court or
not. This test helps to evaluate whether there is a satisfactory amount of admissible
evidence for the case to realistically end in a conviction. CPS must consider what a defence
team may bring to counter their prosecution evidence, this means that CPS must evaluate if
evidence is realistically, sufficiently credible for a reasonable jury, magistrate or judge to
find the defendant guilty. If the case fails this test, no prosecution will go ahead. If the case
passes this test, then the case will move onto the Public Interest Test.
Public Interest Test
The CPS must consider if the case is within the public interest to prosecute. When assessing
a case using the public interest test, the CPS should consider factors like: the seriousness of
an offence (the more serious the more likely to be prosecuted), the extent of responsibility a
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