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Pre trial cross-examination of sexual offence complainants
Will Hayes
As part of the Prime Minister's crackdown on crime, it was announced on 11 August that the UK prosecutor will be handed an extra £85m in funding. Following this announcement, Louise Hodges, Head of Kingsley Napley's criminal team commented on this as follows in CityAM, The Law Society Gazette & Police Professional.
The CPS has been hit hard with a 34 percent decline in its budget between 2008 and 2018 whilst at the same time managing an explosion in digital evidence straining an already-stretched resource".
The increase in funding will assist in employing more lawyers but will not solve the current situation especially given the recent cuts to the court infrastructure and estate".
It is also unclear whether this is a one-off payment or a more long term investment or how this fits with a system-wide approach to cracking crime".
The criminal justice system has seen its funding nose-dive during the era of austerity with everything from police to probation, courts to judiciary, prisons to legal aid suffering enormous cuts. Only with a truly radical re-think and injection of funding throughout the system will there be any hope of salvaging what was once a criminal justice system that was the envy of the world".
Further information
For further information, please contact a member of our criminal team.
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