Getting cases ready for court – A joint review of the quality of prosecution case files by HMIC and HMCPSI

Published on: 15 July 2013

Publication types: Joint inspection

Summary

An efficient criminal justice system is dependent upon the effective exchange of information between all the relevant agencies. Nowhere is this exchange more important than in the context of the relationship between the police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) when preparing a case for court. Effective management of the process of building a prosecution case file can improve the quality of the files, and keep the inevitable paperwork associated with the passage of a case through the criminal justice system to a minimum.

In our recent report, Stop the Drift 2, we examined a sample of case files in the magistrates’ courts where the police had anticipated a guilty plea from the defendant. This found little evidence of any improvement since the NAO report was published.

This review builds on the work undertaken since 2011 by the National Audit Office, criminal justice inspectorates, and the joint CPS/Police National Prosecution Team.

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Getting cases ready for court (PDF, 601KB, new window) (PDF document)

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Press release for Getting cases ready for court

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Avon and Somerset police and crime commissioner’s letter in response to ‘Getting cases ready for court’

Cleveland police and crime commissioner’s letter in response to ‘Getting cases ready for court’

Greater Manchester police and crime commissioner’s letter in response to ‘Getting cases ready for court’ (PDF document)

Leicestershire police and crime commissioner’s letter in response to ‘Getting cases ready for court’ (PDF document)

North Yorkshire police and crime commissioner’s letter in response to ‘Getting cases ready for court’ (PDF document)

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