The Crown Prosecution Service has to apply the Code for Crown Prosecutors. @TheCriminalBar

The Crown Prosecution Service has to apply the Code for Crown Prosecutors. This dictates that if there is sufficient evidence to provide a reasonable prospect of conviction, and prosecution is in the public interest, then a charge follows.  Since it is difficult if not impossible to imagine a situation in which it would not be in the public interest to prosecute for rape, the analysis will invariably come to an assessment of the evidence and whether a reasonable prospect of conviction exists; and of course the reviewing lawyer will at all times apply the relevant guidance and will guard against any misconceptions.

It therefore follows that a process in which the decision as to charge is (absolutely properly) based on different criteria from a decision as to guilt of that charge, then – with rape as with any other criminal allegation – there will always be trials which result in acquittals.  Acquittal does not mean that the jury thought the complainant was lying, or that the jury applied false beliefs/etc; it might simply mean what it says: that on the evidence presented the jury were not sure of the defendant’s guilt.

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