Recommendation 19

The Department explained how the longer victims wait for their case to be heard in court, the greater the risk the victim withdraws their support of the process and the case collapses.34 It told us that the proportion of cases collapsing through victim or witness attrition fell in the last quarter, to 1.2% of cases between April and June 2021. However, the rates of victim and witness attrition are large and increasing in other parts of the criminal justice process: some 29% of cases collapse because of victim and witness attrition between the crime being recorded and the police deciding whether to proceed with the case, and a further 16% of cases collapse between the police referring the case to the Crown Prosecution Service and a defendant being charged.35 The Bar Council expressed particular concern about the increasing time for the Crown Prosecution Service to charge rape cases.36