{"id":18303,"date":"2021-03-15T08:23:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T12:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=18303"},"modified":"2021-03-15T08:23:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T12:23:37","slug":"court-of-appeal-rejects-claim-cps-approach-to-rape-prosecution-was-unlawful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2021\/03\/15\/court-of-appeal-rejects-claim-cps-approach-to-rape-prosecution-was-unlawful\/","title":{"rendered":"Court of Appeal rejects claim CPS approach to rape prosecution was ‘unlawful’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Court of Appeal has dismissed a legal challenge against the Crown Prosecution Service over its policy on prosecuting serious sexual offences.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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End Violence Against Women had said the CPS’ move away from a “merits-based approach” in 2016-18 was “unlawful”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The group had claimed the change led to a “shocking and unprecedented” fall in rape cases leading to criminal charges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But the court agreed with the CPS that the change in guidance “was not a change of legal substance”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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End Violence Against Women (EVAW) had been aiming to show there was a change in policy in the way the CPS handled rape cases, and that the way the prosecutors went about that change was unlawful.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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During the hearing,\u00a0the group had said the CPS adopted what is known as the “bookmaker’s approach”<\/a>\u00a0to cases, which saw prosecutors considering what may happen based on past experience of similar cases, rather than its earlier “merits-based approach” based on objective assessment of the evidence in that case alone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Legally binding guidance on the old approach was removed in 2017, and the CPS introduced a 60% conviction rate target in relation to rape cases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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EVAW’s lawyers had argued both the volume of cases and the charging rate fell following this change in guidance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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They cited figures showing an average of 3,446 rape cases were charged per year between 2009 and 2016, compared with 2,822 in 2017, a fall of 23%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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At the same time the charging rate “declined precipitously” from 56% in 2016, to 47% in 2017 and 34% in 2018.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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