Prosecutors are not consistently recording whether the vulnerability of an older victim has been brought to the sentencing judge’s attention, the service inspectorate has found. 

HMCPSI’s report looking at the CPS’ approach to prosecuting crimes against older people flagged the ‘compliance issue’ adding that: ‘Prosecutors should ensure that evidence is presented to the sentencing judge, so that the judge is informed of all the features of the case.’

Of the 168 cases examined by HMCPSI, 78 convictions were found to involve a vulnerable victim. In 50 of those 78 cases (64%), the report said it was ‘not possible to tell from the hearing record sheet on the CPS case management system whether the prosecutor had brought the victim’s vulnerability to the attention of the sentencing judge’.

The report said the quality of instructions to counsel was another compliance issue. It added: ‘We examined 58 cases which were dealt with by the Crown court. In 36 of these cases (62%) instructions did not contain information about the victim as an older person and sometimes lacked key details about applications that the CPS should have instructed counsel to make. The CPS must ensure good quality instructions are sent to counsel including information about the victim as an older person.’

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A report into the CPS’ approach to prosecuting crimes against older people says court delays ‘disproportionately impacted’ these victims

Source: Alamy

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Court delays are a ‘particular issue’ in cases involving older victims, the report found, adding older victims may be ‘disproportionately impacted by delays in the system’ and the CPS should ‘challenge repeat adjournments to court hearings’.

The report recommended the definition of an older victim be reduced from 65 years old to 60 years, the requirement to treat offences as ‘quasi-hate crimes’ be removed, and that data collection is monitored and quality assured.

HMCPSI Chief Inspector Anthony Rogers said: ‘Older victims face real barriers when it comes to reporting crime and navigating the justice system. When court delays mean waiting months or even years for a case to conclude, the impact can be devastating. CPS generally provide a good service to older victims of crime but there are improvements to be made.’