An overhaul of the guidelines governing how the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) runs its cases will see changes that will help victims, witnesses and defendants, the Director of Public Prosecutions has vowed.


Launching a revised code of conduct for members of the CPS this week, Ken Macdonald QC said he wanted to see increased co-operation between all parties involved in criminal cases, including earlier pleas as well as plea bargaining, which many criminal defence solicitors also support in principle. The new measures in the updated code for crown prosecutors reflect recent changes to criminal law, such as the revised double jeopardy rule, as well as a focus on community measures including more use of anti-social behaviour orders.



Mr Macdonald said changes to the CPS code - which was last amended in 2000 - include a greater emphasis on the independence of the service, and its bigger role in charging and sentencing. There will also be a general emphasis on crimes affecting the local community, such as 'drunken violence', gun crimes and burglaries, the DPP said. The government is also looking to address the growing problems of domestic violence by making it harder to escape prosecution where children are present.



Macdonald: better quality

Mr Macdonald said there was unlikely to be an increased number of convictions, as the new code was only directed at bringing a better quality of prosecution at all levels. He stressed that the new measures in the code were aimed at 'defendants as well as victims and witnesses'.


The Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith, also said this week that the CPS was showing signs of reducing the numbers of discontinued cases, increasing early guilty pleas, and displaying 'the right start' in the fight for more effective justice. This has been partly attributed to the charging programme, he said, which will this week be rolled out into London following the completion of its first phase across 14 other areas. Mr Macdonald also supported the programme, saying that any flaws in CPS decisions could also have easily occurred if the police or magistrates had been faced with difficult cases.



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