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Victims' Right to Review Data 2022-2023

Underlying Data

Victims Right to Review Outcomes
April 2022 to March 2023

NB - this data was updated in June 2024 to correct an error. The number of cases involving criminal damage was erroneously entered as 7, rather than 75.

This publication details the outcomes of Victims' Right to Review decisions in 2022-2023. Also available in Excel and PDF format.

 Principal Offence CategoryTotal VRR Requests ReceivedOriginal Decisions Overturned at Stage OneOriginal Decisions Overturned at Stage TwoTotal Original Decisions Overturned
AHomicide27213
BOffences against the person86410338141
CSexual offences312461864
DBurglary37347
ERobbery11101
FTheft and handling44505
GFraud and forgery37437
HCriminal damage7511314
IDrug offences1000
JPublic order offences9212416
LMotoring offences36246
KAll other offences (excluding motoring)11915520
 Total165520480284

Notes

In 2022/23, 1,655 requests were made under the VRR scheme.  Out of these requests, 284 decisions (1.03% of qualifying decisions) were found to be incorrect; this comprised of 204 at stage 1 and 80 at stage 2.  During this period, the CPS made 29,543 decisions which could have been subject to a request for a review under the VRR scheme.  More information on the VRR scheme can be found here. Source: CPS VRR Tracker. September 2023

The VRR scheme is a two stage process where requests can be reviewed by either local offices or a specialist Unit within HQ. In the first instance, that decision is reviewed by a manager in the local area. If he or she overturns the original decision, and if the victim so requests, the case may be further reviewed by the CPS Appeals and Review Unit (ARU). The ARU is a national CPS unit staffed with experienced specialist lawyers who conduct a fresh independent review of the evidence in every case referred to them. If an ARU lawyer decides that the original decision was wrong, and a prosecution is required to maintain confidence in the Criminal Justice System, that original decision will be overturned and proceedings reinstituted. The figures provided in the table represent all overturned decisions where the original decision was found to be wrong regardless of which stage the final decision was made.

For the 2022/23 publication the CPS has used a new, more accurate calculation to represent the number of decisions that could have been subject to a request under the VRR scheme, this change involved adding the identified victim flag to the calculation to improve accuracy. This has reduced the number of decisions that could be subject to a review and therefore the overturn rate has increased. This calculation now uses the Identified Victim flag to identify cases that could be subject to a request under the VRR scheme.  

Publications prior to 2022/23 included cases that did not have a princpal offence category attributed to them. From 2022/23 all cases have a principal offence category allocated to them.

The CPS operates both Feedback and Complaints schemes to deal with concerns about legal decisions which do not fall within the scope of the VRR scheme. The CPS does not collect data which constitutes official statistics as defined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. This data has been drawn from the CPS’s administrative IT systems, which (as with any large scale recording system) is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. The figures are provisional and subject to change as more information is recorded by the CPS.

Monitoring flags

The CPS maintains a central record of pre-charge and prosecution outcomes with reference to a number of case monitoring flags, including cases involving offences of child abuse, crimes against older people, domestic abuse, hate crime, identified victim, modern slavery and rape.

CPS data are dependent upon lawyers and administrative staff identifying and correctly applying the monitoring ‘flags’ or case-markers to applicable cases that are recorded on the CPS’ electronic Case Management System (CMS).

The data that is produced through the application of the flag is primarily used for monitoring performance on all cases that involve allegations or charges where these categories of criminal offending apply.  CPS data is accurate only to the extent that the flags have been correctly applied. Also note that:

  • A flag is usually applied at the onset of any case referred by the police to the CPS and remains in place even if the charge is not proceeded with, is amended, or dropped.
  • A flag may be applied at a later point which differs from that originally identified by the police.
  • Although charges specifically related to a flag may be considered at the time of the pre-charge decision, the defendant may in fact be charged with another offence. Similarly, there may be cases where a person is convicted of a lesser offence than that with which they were proceeded against. 
     

Available to download

Victims Right to Review Data 2022-23 (PDF document) (updated June 2024 to correct error)
Victims Right to Review Data 2022-23 (Excel spreadsheet) (updated June 2024 to correct error)
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