North's prosecutors achieve 97.7% conviction rate

Prosecutors achieved a 97.7% conviction rate in the North's magistrates' courts last year, it was revealed today.

The conviction rate in the crown court was only slightly behind at 94.8%, according to the fourth annual report of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) for the 2008/09 year.

Director of Public Prosecutions Alasdair Fraser said this confirmed the decisions taken by them on when to prosecute were sound.

Nearly 30,000 people were convicted by magistrates' courts and more than a further 1,500 in crown courts.

Fraser said the year reported on had been a significant milestone for the PPS as it was the first year the new service was fully operational and responsible for prosecutions as the principle prosecuting authority in the North.

Attorney General for Northern Ireland, Baroness Scotland, said: "I am both confident and proud that the PPS reaches standards of professionalism that can more than match the best of international standards.

"It is all the more notable because the PPS has achieved much in so little time."

Fraser said during the year 56,721 cases were received from the police and other agencies, including the Police Ombudsman and the North's government departments such as the Department for Social Development.

That resulted in 67,485 prosecutorial decisions being taken.

Fraser said: "PPS lawyers appeared daily in every magistrates', youth and county court in Northern Ireland with a total of 29,047 persons being convicted. In addition 1,525 persons were convicted of serious offences in the crown court."

Confirming their success rate, he added: "Of all the cases in the magistrates' court which proceeded to a hearing, either by trial or a plea of guilty, 97.7% resulted in a conviction. The corresponding conviction rate in the crown court was 94.8%."

The director said: "These statistics confirm the findings of the Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland during its follow-up inspection of the PPS in January 2009 that prosecutorial decision making remained sound."

Fraser pledged the service would continue to build public awareness and understanding of the role of the public prosecutor in order to earn the confidence and trust of the whole community they served.

Paying tribute to the hard work and determination of all his team, he said: "I am privileged to lead an organisation which is committed to serving this community in a fair, independent and impartial manner."

SDLP justice spokesman Alex Attwood said the PPS annual report masked the reality of justice provided to victims and families in the North.

On one reading, the PPS's 97% conviction rate could be seen as good news, however Fraser was being selective on a range of issues, he said.

"A 97% conviction rate is no satisfaction to families and victims suffering from plea bargaining that results in people charged with very serious crimes being convicted of much lesser ones," said Mr Attwood.

"A 97% conviction rate tells us nothing about how families and victims are kept uninformed about what the PPS is doing or about the failure of the PPS to give full and adequate reasons for the decisions they make.

"In one way, a 97% conviction rate suggests that the PPS only takes the cases it thinks it will win and other cases - with only small doubts about the evidence - end up not being pursued."

The PPS had undergone some reform and some things were better, he said, but claimed it was self-evident it required a new phase of extensive reform.

West Belfast MLA Mr Attwood said: "The director relies upon and invokes, as an authority, the recent Criminal Justice Inspection (CJI) report on his services. The CJI report did say prosecutorial decisions were sound.

"But the director fails to acknowledge the CJI report said little progress had been made across a range of prosecutions over a two year timescale, including the stark and withering comments that there was a 'resistance' to give reasons why prosecutions had been withdrawn or charges reduced.

"The PPS should address all of the CJI report and deal with the proper concerns of victims and families."