Section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 creates two offences:<\/p>
S.51(1) creates an offence directed at acts against a person who assists in an investigation of an offence or who is a witness or potential witness or juror or potential juror whilst an investigation or trial is in progress<\/p>
S.51(2) creates an offence directed at acts against a person who assisted in an investigation of an offence or who was a witness or juror after an investigation or trial has been concluded.<\/p>
The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) identify the number of offences in which a prosecution commenced and reached a first hearing in the magistrates\u2019 courts, rather than the number of defendants prosecuted. A single defendant may be prosecuted for multiple offences.<\/p>
The number of offences charged under s.51(1) and s.51(2) are as follows:<\/p>
|
| 2010-2011<\/p><\/td> | 2011-2012<\/p><\/td> | 2012-2013<\/p><\/td> | 2013-2014<\/p><\/td> | 2014-2015<\/p><\/td><\/tr> |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 51(1)<\/p><\/td> | Intimidate a witness / juror<\/p><\/td> | 3,275<\/p><\/td> | 2,630<\/p><\/td> | 2,148<\/p><\/td> | 2,066<\/p><\/td> | 2,202<\/p><\/td><\/tr> |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 51(2)<\/p><\/td> | Do an act which harmed a witness / juror<\/p><\/td> | 102<\/p><\/td> | 166<\/p><\/td> | 99<\/p><\/td> | 72<\/p><\/td> | 109<\/p><\/td><\/tr> |
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 51(2)<\/p><\/td> | Threaten a witness / juror<\/p><\/td> | 240<\/p><\/td> | 172<\/p><\/td> | 118<\/p><\/td> | 122<\/p><\/td> | 129<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table> The proportion of CPS cases that result in a guilty plea has increased from 67.2% in 10/11 to 74.5% in 14/15 which means that there are fewer cases that are likely to be subject to the sorts of acts covered by s.51(1) during the course of the prosecution.<\/p> Also, s.51(1) covers intimidation of juror or potential jurors. The number of crown court trials have also been reducing over the period in question by 9.5%, again resulting in fewer cases where S.51(1) offences are likely to apply.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4106", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South Swindon"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Robert Buckland"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2016-01-13", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2016-01-13T15:14:30.323Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "88"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Attorney General"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Attorney General"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2016-01-07", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Juries"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2016 to Question 20564, how many people were charged with jury (a) intimidation and (b) tampering in each of the last five years.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1516", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Andy Slaughter"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hammersmith"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Andy Slaughter"} ], "uin" : "21435"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/423503", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Attorney General"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/423503/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " Information relating to internal discussion and advice is not normally disclosed.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1560", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Jeremy Wright"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Kenilworth and Southam"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Jeremy Wright"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-10-28", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-10-28T14:39:43.587Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "88"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Attorney General"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Attorney General"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2015-10-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Ministers: Codes of Practice"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Attorney General, what discussions he has had with his ministerial colleagues in the Cabinet Office on the removal from the Ministerial Code of a reference to Ministers having a duty to comply with the law including international law and treaty obligations and to uphold the administration of justice.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1516", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Andy Slaughter"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hammersmith"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Andy Slaughter"} ], "uin" : "13253"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/417511", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Attorney General"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/417511/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) records show that, between 1st April 2009 and 10 September 2015, there have been 114 cases, recorded as assisted suicide or euthanasia, referred by the Police. 24 of these cases were later withdrawn by the police.<\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> The CPS central record cannot be filtered to identify how many referrals were received in each year. This information could only be obtained by manually examining CPS case files, which would incur a disproportionate cost.<\/p> <\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4106", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South Swindon"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Robert Buckland"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2015-09-11", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2015-09-11T13:10:52.217Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "88"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Attorney General"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Attorney General"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2015-09-08", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Euthanasia"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Attorney General, in how many cases of assisted suicide the Crown Prosecution Service has received files in each of the last six years.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1516", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Andy Slaughter"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hammersmith"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Andy Slaughter"} ], "uin" : "9398"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/172867", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Attorney General"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/172867/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " The Treasury Solicitor conducts most, but not all, litigation on behalf of government departments. For example, Her Majesty\u2019s Revenue and Customs normally conducts its own litigation. In 2014 the Treasury Solicitor acted in about 17846 judicial reviews.<\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> The Treasury Solicitor\u2019s Department does not hold central records on the external legal fees paid in each individual case or on the outcome of each such case. Such information could not be created without examining every case file and thus incurring disproportionate costs.<\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> In relation to external fees, the Attorney General maintains five panels of junior counsel to undertake civil and EC work for all Government Departments. There are three London panels (an A panel for senior juniors, a B panel for middle juniors and a C panel for junior juniors) together with a Regional panel and a Public International Law panel. This is in addition to First Treasury Counsel (FTC) who exclusively does Government work, and to the Standing Counsel to certain Departments. <\/p> The hourly rates for panel counsel are as follows:<\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> First Treasury Counsel - £230<\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> A panel - £120<\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> B panel - £80<\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> C panel - £60 if under 5 years call and £80 if over 5 years call.<\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> In relation to outcomes, the Ministry of Justice publish figures on the number of Judicial Reviews by each Department up to 2012:<\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> See Table 4.3 at the link below:<\/p> <\/p> <\/p> <\/p> |