§ Mr. FisherTo ask the Solicitor-General how many prosecutions for alleged child abuse were brought by the Crown Prosecution Service in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and how many resulted in a conviction. [183616]
§ The Solicitor-GeneralThe following tables show aggregated information about child abuse cases that were finalised on the new Compass system during the year ending March 2004. No information is held for earlier periods, and could be obtained only through an analysis of individual case files at disproportionate cost.
Table 1 shows the number of child abuse cases in magistrates courts, broken down into unsuccessful outcomes and convictions. Unsuccessful outcomes comprise: cases discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service; cases written off because the defendant could not be traced by the police, had died or been found unfit to plead; cases discharged in the course of committal proceedings; cases dismissed because of no case to answer; and dismissals after full rial. Convictions are divided into guilty pleas and convictions after trial.
Table 2 shows the number of finalised child abuse cases recorded at the crown court. Unsuccessful outcomes in the crown court comprise: cases dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service before a jury was sworn, in which the judge ordered a formal acquittal; cases written off because the defendant could not be traced by the police, had died or been Found unfit to plead; judge directed acquittals; and acquittals after trial. Convictions are divided into guilty pleas and convictions after full trial.
It should be noted that these figures are not collected from a specific list of offences. The identification of prosecution cases as child abuse is made by a member of CPS staff when a case is received from police, or within a subsequent review. Police officers and Administrators may also bring a child abuse case to CPS attention within the initial file submission.
970W
Outcome of child abuse cases in magistrates courts 2003–04 Number Percentage Discontinued 366 28.3 Written off 14 1.1 Discharged committals 21 1.6 Dismissed no case to answer 13 1.0 Dismissed after trial 53 4.1 Unsuccessful outcomes 467 36.1
Outcome of child abuse cases in magistrates courts 2003–04 Number Percentage Guilty Pleas 694 53.7 Convicted after trial 132 10.2 Convictions 826 63.9 Total 1,293 —
Outcome of child abuse cases in the Crown court 2003—04 Number Percentage Judge ordered acquittals 145 16.5 Written off 6 0.7 Judge directed acquittals 25 2.8 Jury acquittals 111 12.6 Unsuccessful outcomes 287 32.6 Guilty pleas 446 50.7 Convicted after trial 147 16.7 Convictions 593 67.4 Total 880 —
§ Tom CoxTo ask the Solicitor-General on how many occasions in each of the last three years the Crown Prosecution Service has not proceeded with a prosecution of an assault committed(a) on a police officer and (b) by an inmate on a prison officer on the grounds that prosecution would not be in the public interest. [183928]
§ The Solicitor-GeneralThe Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) central records do not include the level of detail required to answer the present question. Information at this level of detail could be obtained only by examining individual case files in each CPS office, which would incur disproportionate cost (Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, part 2, clause 9).