Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 30 September 2020 to Question 95701, if she will publish the number of cases pursued by the Crown Prosecution Service that resulted in unsuccessful outcomes due to victim issues by offence type in each quarter since the third quarter of the 2018-19 financial year.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains a central record of the outcomes of completed prosecutions, as a count of the number of defendants finalised, and collates the data collected by quarter. Each non-conviction (or ‘unsuccessful’) outcome is allocated a reason, indicating the principal reason the defendant was not convicted. The CPS also collects data which reports the number of prosecuted defendants allocated to twelve Principal Offence Categories.
The table below shows the number of non-convictions due to victim issues by Principal Offence Category in each quarter from Q3 2018-19 (October to December 2018) to Q4 2019-20 (January to March 2020).
| 18/19-Q3 | 18/19-Q4 | 19/20-Q1 | 19/20-Q2 | 19/20-Q3 | 19/20-Q4 |
Homicide | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Offences Against The Person | 2,770 | 2,687 | 2,419 | 2,520 | 1,997 | 1,992 |
Sexual Offences | 96 | 65 | 47 | 49 | 59 | 49 |
Burglary | 55 | 58 | 44 | 49 | 31 | 73 |
Robbery | 59 | 81 | 49 | 86 | 68 | 62 |
Theft And Handling | 106 | 104 | 112 | 100 | 84 | 98 |
Fraud And Forgery | 22 | 23 | 22 | 16 | 26 | 15 |
Criminal Damage | 237 | 218 | 189 | 199 | 162 | 159 |
Drugs Offences | 7 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 8 | 9 |
Public Order Offences | 150 | 140 | 151 | 147 | 134 | 127 |
All Other Offences (excluding Motoring) | 21 | 23 | 14 | 17 | 17 | 19 |
Motoring Offences | 66 | 60 | 47 | 67 | 51 | 57 |
Other (No Category Allocated) | 3 | 2 | 9 | 19 | 5 | 10 |
Total Non-Convictions due to Victim Issues | 3,594 | 3,468 | 3,111 | 3,286 | 2,643 | 2,673 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System
The table below provides a breakdown by Principal Offence Category of prosecution outcomes resulting in a non-conviction due to victim issues as a percentage of all prosecutions. The table shows that the proportion of non-convictions due to victim reasons are a very small proportion of all prosecutions.
| 18/19-Q3 | 18/19-Q4 | 19/20-Q1 | 19/20-Q2 | 19/20-Q3 | 19/20-Q4 |
Homicide | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Offences Against The Person | 2.3% | 2.2% | 2.1% | 2.1% | 1.8% | 1.9% |
Sexual Offences | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% |
Burglary | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
Robbery | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
Theft And Handling | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
Fraud And Forgery | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Criminal Damage | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
Drugs Offences | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Public Order Offences | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
All Other Offences (excluding Motoring) | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Motoring Offences | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.1% |
Other (No Category Allocated) | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Non-Convictions due to Victim Issues as a percentage of all prosecutions | 3.0% | 2.8% | 2.7% | 2.8% | 2.4% | 2.5% |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System