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<p><ins class="ministerial">Decisions on whether or not to bring criminal charges
are taken by prosecutors who are independent from government and independent from
Parliament. I am confident of the independence and the integrity of the Director of
Public Prosecutions (DPP), Alison Saunders, in making the difficult judgements the
job of a prosecutor involves.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Victims’ Right
to Review, which Alison Saunders helped to bring in, allows any victim of crime who
is dissatisfied with a decision taken by a prosecutor not to proceed with their case
to ask for the decision to be reviewed. This review has operated as it was designed
to in the case of Greville Janner.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">We are world
leaders in offering that safeguard for victims and since Alison Saunders has been
DPP, the CPS has prosecuted and convicted more child sex offenders than ever before.</ins></p><p>
</p><p><del class="ministerial">In the year to 31<sup>st </sup>December 2014, the
Law Officers personally considered 469 cases and referred 128 offenders to the Court
of Appeal under the unduly lenient sentence scheme. Leave was granted by the Court
in 95% of cases which included some of the most serious violent and sexual offences,
including murder, rape and sexual assault.</del></p><p><br /><del class="ministerial">The
Attorney General’s Office publishes statistics for unduly lenient sentences at the
end of the calendar year. This is to ensure that the figures are released in a consistent
format and are accurate and quality assured. Unduly lenient sentences statistics for
2013 and 2014 are published on the Attorney General’s Office website - <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/attorney-generals-office"
target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/organisations/attorney-generals-office</a>.
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