A study of the impact of the revised Code for Crown Prosecutors

The revised Code for Crown Prosecutors became effective ill June 1994. The authors were commissioned by the CPS in August 1995 to conduct a study of the impact of the revised Code upon case decisions, and specifically to discover whether the evidential and the public interest tests were being implemented in line with the guidance contained in the Code. It was found that prosecutors generally adopt a common approach, but this is attributrable not so much to the clarifications contained in the Code as to the derailed guidance contained in the Explanatory Memorandum for CPS staff and in policy directives geared to specific offences. Prosecutors believe that the revised version of the Code is more easily understood by the police and public, bur it would seem that the Code has been less successful in meeting its other avowed objectives a clarifying the evidential and the public interest tests so that these are interpreted consistently. The impact upon actual case decisions has been very limited.