Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the Crown Prosecution Service to assess the need for Criminal Behaviour Orders for defendants sentenced at their first appearance at court following a remand in police custody.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
Ancillary orders, including Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs), play an important work in delivering justice, especially for victims of crime.
When submitting a file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in cases where it is appropriate to seek a CBO, the police are required to provide information to justify the making of a CBO. As with other ancillary orders, prosecutors apply for CBOs where the law enables them to do so, considering all the facts and circumstances in a case.
In the Government’s response to the Independent Sentencing Review, the Ministry of Justice announced plans to expand ancillary orders and to explore wider powers for judges to enable them to use these orders more effectively and punish offenders. The CPS is working with the Ministry of Justice to provide prosecutorial insight in support of this work.