Crown Prosecution Service
| Author | A. N. Khan |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201838605000309 |
| Published date | 01 August 1986 |
| Date | 01 August 1986 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
CROWN
PROSECUTION
SERVICE
A.
N. Khan"
Under
the present system up to 1985, the main responsibility for
instituting criminal prosecutions lies with the police, although the
Director of Public Prosecutions
(D.P.P.),
public bodies,'
government departments.i nationalised industries;' Inland
Revenue, Customs and Excise," all play their part in bringing
prosecutions.f
Agreat majority of the Police Authorities have prosecuting
solicitors but they normally work under the supervision of the Chief
Constable in police buildings." This position had consistently been
criticised by many, e.g. the JUSTICE Report in 19707pointed at
many of the actual or potential defects of the existing system."
*Professor, Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada (Professor Khan was at
Leeds University when this article was written).
Ie.g. Airports Authority, Ports Authority.
2e.g. Department of Environment.
3e.g. British Railway Board.
4e.g. under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968.
5See Blackburn v. Police Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police
[1972]
1All
E.R.
324; R. v. Metropolitan Police Commissioner, ex parte Blackburn [1968]2
W.L.R.
893. Private organisations also start some prosecutions in specialised areas,
e.g.
R.S.P.C.A.,
N.S.P.C.C.
6For a practitioner's view see Humphreys,
"The
duties and responsibilities of
Prosecuting Counsel" (1955) Crim.L.R. 739.
7See Wilcox, The Decision to Prosecute (1972); Sigler "Public Prosecutions in
England and Wales" (1974). Crim.L.R. 642; McFarlane, "National prosecution
service for England and Wales" (1984) S.L.T. News 41; "Proposed independent
prosecuting service: the prosecutor's viewpoint" 48 J
.c.L.
302; McConville,
"Prosecuting criminal cases in England and Wales: reflections of an inquisitorial
adversary" (1984) VI Liverpool L. R. 15; Hay,
"The
criminal prosecution in England
and its historians" (1984) 47 M.L.R. I; McFarlane,
"The
proposals for a national
prosecution service" (1983) 127S.J. 847; Silkin,
"The
shape of prosecution to come"
(1983) Lawyer 14 Oct.; Bowley,
"Prosecution-a
matter for the police" (1975)
Crim.L.R.442.
MFor extensive excerpts see Zander, Cases and material on the English Legal
System (4th
ed.,
1984).
297
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