Ellie Reeves responds to drop in prosecutions for domestic violence victims

Ellie Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow Solicitor General, responding to the drop in prosecutions for domestic violence victims, said:

“This Tory government is letting down victims of domestic abuse on every front.

“More needs to be done to ensure that victims have faith that the criminal justice system will be there to support them throughout.

“The CPS needs to urgently identify the causes of why prosecution levels are so low, learn these lessons quickly and act swiftly to reverse this worrying trend.”

Ends

Notes to editors

• Despite a 9% increase in recorded crimes in the year ending March 2020, referrals to the CPS for charging fell by 19%.
• The police recorded 758,941 domestic abuse-related crimes in England and Wales (excluding Greater Manchester Police) in the year ending March 2020, an increase of 9% compared with the previous year.
• At the same time, there was a 19% decrease in the number of suspects of domestic abuse-flagged cases referred to the CPS from the police from the year ending March 2019 to the year ending March 2020 (from 98,479 to 79,965)⁴. This follows an 11% decrease between the years ending March 2018 and March 2019.
• (ONS, 25 November 2020, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/domesticabuseandthecriminaljusticesystemenglandandwales/november2020#prosecution-and-conviction-outcomes )