Prosecuting Domestic Abuse in England and Wales: Crown Prosecution Service ‘Working Practice’ and New Public Managerialism

Abstract

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) regards offences of domestic abuse as ‘particularly serious’ and considers tackling violence against women a ‘priority’. This article examines how criminal prosecutors in England and Wales approach cases of intimate partner abuse in practice, specifically at the point when a complainant no longer wishes to support the prosecution. It first introduces ‘New Public Managerialism’ (NPM). This is the lens through which the qualitative responses of a sample of nine prosecutors are thematically analysed. Second, the primary research indicates a prosecutorial tendency or ‘working practice’ in 2017 disinclined to terminate cases on request, prompting instead the routine or habitual use of ‘witness summons’. Third, the article exposes how techniques of NPM have contributed to the identified ‘working practice’, often in concealed and unintended ways. Managerial priorities in this context appear to have restricted the free exercise of the prosecutor’s discretion to take decisions on a case-by-case basis. The implications for women’s safety and autonomy are considered.