Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in Lincolnshire
The CPS has its main headquarters in London, Birmingham and York but it also has local branches throughout England and Wales.
The offices for CPS Lincolnshire are in Lincoln based at the Henley Office Park. The contact details for the offices are:
CPS Lincolnshire
The Regatta
Henley Office Park
Doddington Road
LINCOLN
LN6 3QR
Telephone: 01522 585900
The Role of the Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the Government Department responsible for prosecuting people in England and Wales who have been charged by the police with a criminal offence. Created by the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, we are an independent body that works closely with the police.
The head of the CPS is the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC. The Director is superintended by the Attorney General who is responsible to Parliament for the Service. At the time that this scheme was completed we employed around 7,700 staff, including some 2,500 lawyers. Every year they handle more than 1.3 million cases in the Magistrates' Courts and about 115,000 in the Crown Court.
The police send criminal cases to the CPS for a decision. This decision is about whether to go ahead and prosecute a case in court and is based on two tests. The first is the evidential test. Prosecutors must decide if there's enough evidence for the case to stand up in court. Does it have a realistic chance of conviction? What's the defence case likely to be? Is it likely to affect the prosecution case? Will a jury or a bench of magistrates be more likely than not to convict the defendant? If the case passes the evidential test, prosecutors must then decide if it's in the public interest to prosecute. Occasionally another course of action is deemed to be better but in most cases, a prosecution will take place.
The CPS will only start or continue a prosecution if a case has passed both tests.
The overall aim of the CPS is to deliver a high quality prosecution service that brings offenders to justice and helps reduce both crime and the fear of crime. It aims to promote public confidence in the justice system through consistent, fair and independent review of cases and through fair, thorough and firm representation in court.
For more information about the CPS please visit www.cps.gov.uk
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