Crime: Victims

(asked on 22nd January 2018) - View Source

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, in what proportion of qualifying cases a review was sought under the Victims' Right to Review Scheme in each year since 2013.


Answered by
Robert Buckland Portrait
Robert Buckland
This question was answered on 29th January 2018

The Victim’s Right to Review Scheme (VRR) was launched by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in June 2013. The right to request a review of a CPS decision arises where decisions are made not to bring proceedings (i.e. at the pre-charge stage); to discontinue or withdraw the case ending all proceedings involving the victim; to offer no evidence in all proceedings relating to the victim; or asks the court to leave all charges in all proceedings to lie on file. These are defined as qualifying decisions. If an appeal is upheld it may be possible to bring proceedings against a suspect if the original decision is found, on review, to be wrong.

The table below shows the volume and proportion of VRR appeals and the number upheld during each of the last four years.

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Qualifying Decisions

Total VRR Appeals

% of Qualifying Decisions Appealed

Upheld Appeals (Decision Reversed)

2013-14

106,262

1,258

1.18%

197

2014-15

129,230

1,750

1.35%

221

2015-16

118,600

1,809

1.53%

189

2016-17

103,113

1,988

1.93%

137

Data Source: CPS VRR Tracker

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