3.1

• Police


  First professional police force founded by Sir Robert Peel in 1829
• Police


  • Basic mission is to prevent crime and disorder
  • Police ability to perform duties depends on public cooperation and approval
  • Physical force is the last resort
  • Police duty is to impartially serve the law
• Police


  • They are servants of the law and the public and these principles are embedded in the Police Code of Ethics which stresses that public servants need to maintain respect and support of the public
• Aims of the police

  • Keep the peace and maintain order
  • Protect life and property
  • Prevent, detect and investigate crime
  • Bring offenders to justice
• Most police powers are given in the Policing and Criminal Evidence Act 1984
• Funding


  In 20/21 total police budget was £15.2 billion coming from ⅔ central government, most of the rest from council tax, small amount from policing events such as football matches
• Police funding fell by 19% between 2010 and 2018 leading to a fall in 20,000 officers
• In 2020 there were 123,000 police officers in England and Wales
• Limitations of the police


  • Finances - There was a 30% central government funding cut between 2010-2018
  • Evidence that the police are dropping investigations into crimes including sexual offences, violent attacks and arson
• Rape cases take on average 129 days to solve compared with 2 days for criminal damage
• Successes of the police

  • Increasing number of domestic violence cases being reported and recorded
  • ⅔ of domestic abuse practitioners felt that the police's approach to DV had improved
  • Improved recording procedures- this could account for the rise in total number of crimes
• Criticisms of the police

  • Domestic violence case - arrests falling, bail conditions not being used to protect victims, staff shortages mean delays putting victims at risk
  • CSEW- contradictory stats showing crime has decreased (but they deal with different crimes)
  • Racism- disproportionate policing of ethnic minorities and most police are still white
  • Media usage- using the media to show them as crime busters
• In the UK today there are 39 regional police forces
• Specialist organisations have UK reach such as The British Transport Police
• The police deal with virtually all types of crime and offenders, but not crimes dealt with by HMRC
• General duties of the police

  • Patrolling an area
  • Responding to calls from the public
• Specialist duties of the police

  • CIP
  • Traffic
  • Mounted police
  • CEOP
• Other specialisms include being part of the National Crime Agency such as CEOP
• Evaluate the effectiveness of police in maintaining social control

  1. The police's main role is protecting the public and preventing crime

  2. They do this by using powers laid out in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, such as stop and search, and arresting suspects and questioning them to investigate

  3. The police claim to have increased their effectiveness, to evidence that there are more domestic violence cases being reported, this means that the public trust the police and will cooperate with them; more of these cases are recorded which also shows the police are better systematically collecting data on crime

  4. Practitioners who work with domestic violence victims feel the police approach has improved

  5. However, arrests for domestic violence have fallen and critics argue that bail conditions are not being used to protect the victims, this may be due to funding cuts that cause staff shortages

  6. The police have used positive discrimination to recruit officers from black and ethnic minority groups which means they can maintain social control better by using collaborative policing methods which builds trust within these communities

  7. However, there is still lots of data that shows institutional racism, for example, the killing of Mark Duggan instigated the London riots which shows that police action can also cause disorder

  8. There is still not proportional representation in the police as 97% of officers are white
• CPS


  The main public prosecutor in England and Wales, set up in 1986 under the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 to take over prosecuting from the police due to the risk of bias
• Roles of the CPS

  • Advises the police in their investigations about lines of inquiry and the evidence needed to build a case
  • Independently assess the evidence submitted to it by the police and keep cases under review
  • Decides whether to prosecute and if so what charges should be brought
  • Prepares the prosecution case and presents it to court using its own lawyers and self employed specialists
  • Assists informs and supports victims and prosecution witnesses
• Philosophy of the CPS

  • Independence and fairness - prosecuting without bias and always seeking to deliver justice
  • Honesty and openness
  • Treating everyone with respect
  • Behaving professionally and striving for excellence
  • Equality and inclusion - to inspire greater confidence in the CPS from victims and witnesses
• Funding of the CPS


  Most comes from the government with a budget of approx half a billion pounds per year, recovers some of its costs when courts award against defendants, and recovers assets confiscated from criminals
• The CPS budget was cut by a quarter in 2010-2018, and it had lost a third of its staff
• Limitations of the CPS

  • Budget cut by a quarter in 2010-2018, lost a third of staff
  • Head of the CPS said in 2018 that they and the police were failing to investigate thousands of cases efficiently including rape, fraud,and modern slavery and that both organisations were critically short of skills and resources to combat crime
  • They have been accused of downgrading charges so that they can prosecute in magistrates courts as it's quicker and cheaper, but this will also lead to lighter sentences
  • Could get worse due to a post covid backlog, may lead to shorter prison sentences that are a poor way to tackle crime
• Successes of the CPS

  • It has several strengths, including its independence, expertise, and ability to provide consistent and fair decisions
  • In 2022 (South London) successfully concluded 22,000 prosecutions
  • In 3 months they typically prosecute 80,000 in Crown Court and 450,000 in Magistrates Court
  • The full code test allows cases to be robust
  • 80% of defendants are convicted
• Criticisms of the CPS

  • Need to reform their service to victims
  • Need to improve their support of their work around rape and serious sexual offences
  • Need to respond to the need to recruit police officers and deal with the court backlog
  • Need to invest in digital innovation- need to get better at analysing evidence from phones
  • High number of acquittals indicates poor CPS performance
  • Witness had lied to the CPS therefore completed inappropriate application of the full code test
  • Poor evidence disclosure- after Liam Allen, 30 cases were reviewed and some were dropped
  • Still too close to the police, tend to favour them
  • Failure to communicate with victims/ suspects
• Judiciary


  • Judicial independence - judge should be independent and free from government interference to enable them to uphold the rule of law and safeguard the rights of citizens against the power of the government
  • Impartiality
  • Integrity- being honest with strong moral principles
  • Propriety - upholding society's accepted standards of behaviour and morals
  • Ensuring equal treatment
  • Competence - knowledge and ability to do job
• Oath of Allegiance - loyalty to monarchs, heirs and successors
• Judicial oath - "do right to all manner of people after the laws and usages of this realm, without fear or favour, affection or will"
• Aims of the judiciary

  • To interpret and apply the law to the cases that come before it
  • Crown - judge must manage the trial ensuring fairness to all parties explaining the legal issues and procedures to members of the jury, summing up the evidence and passing sentence if the defendant is found guilty
  • Appeal - make rulings that come before them from lower courts. This may involve creating precedents through the principle of judicial precedent which then bind the future decisions of the lower courts
• Funding of the judiciary


  The senior salaries review Body makes recommendations to the prime minister and the lord chancellor on how much judges should be paid, the most senior judge The Lord Chief Justice received £262,000 and district judges earned £112,000
• Senior lawyers can earn more than judges and may put people off becoming a judge
• Probation Services


  • The brief that offenders can change for the better and become responsible members of society
  • Belief in the worth and dignity of the individual
  • Commitment to social justice, social inclusion, equality and diversity
  • Provide extra support for those transitioning from custody to community
• What probation services can do

  1. Can do prison visits, home visits and can take them out into the community

  2. Try to organise benefits and bank accounts for them

  3. Can act as a counsellor, have to understand the perpetrator's background and their story

  4. Can get support for their job

  5. Run groups for those with day release

  6. Can gainer professional qualifications within probation work
• Aims of probation services

  • Statutory criminal justice service that supervises high risk offenders released into the community
  • Provides statutory support to victims of serious sexual or violent crime
  • Priority to protect the public by rehabilitating offenders, by tackling causes of their offending and enabling them to turn their lives around
• Offenders serving a sentence in the community

  • Up to 300 hours unpaid work (Community Payback )
  • Exclusion order or curfew/ residency requirement
  • Group programme/anger management
• Offenders released on licence

  • Often released halfway through a sentence, the licence has requirements attached such as drug treatment, and this is supervised by the NPS
• Probation services work in partnership with councils, private rehab companies and CRCs (don't exist anymore, but still need to be mentioned as are still on the spec- scrapped in 2020), can also include charities, police and prisons
• Funding of probation services

  As part of HMPPS which has an overall budget of £4.6billion it shares money coming from the central government from taxation