Crown Prosecution Service

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the main agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (Stephen Parkinson).

The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal advice to the police and to decide whether a suspect should face criminal charges following an investigation, and to conduct prosecutions both in the magistrates' courts and the Crown Court. The magistrates' court deals with less serious crimes while the Crown Court deals with more serious crimes.

The Attorney General for England and Wales supervises the CPS's work and answers for it in Parliament, but usually doesn't have control over prosecutions. There are some exceptions, for example when the crime involves national security. There are also a small number of crimes that require the Attorney General's permission to prosecute.

The police used to do prosecutions. The CPS was created to do this in 1986.

 References 

Category:Government agencies of the United Kingdom
Category:United Kingdom law