Violence against Women and Girls Crime report contents

Graph 2: VAWG caseload as % of total caseload, 2009-10 to 2015-16
2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16
CPS NATIONAL 8.7% 9.9% 10.2% 10.3% 12.5% 16.3% 18.6%
The volume of VAWG crimes prosecuted 40 rose from 107,104 in 2014-15, to 117,568 in 2015-16. This
represents an increase of 10,464 or 9.8% and the highest level ever recorded.
Of all prosecutions (117,568), in 66.3% of cases a guilty plea was secured; this is the equivalent of
78,004 guilty pleas and the highest volume ever recorded. The volume of convictions secured after
trial, rose to 9,125 the highest volume ever recorded. This was 7.8%, out of all VAWG prosecutions,
and 50.2% out of all VAWG prosecutions contested at trial (excluding mixed pleas 41 ).
30,293 prosecutions were unsuccessful. Prosecutions dropped (including decisions to discontinue,
withdraw or offer no evidence) accounted for 17% (or 20,015 cases) of all prosecution outcomes, the
lowest proportion ever recorded.
Unsuccessful outcomes that were due to victim issues 42 continued to fall – from 48.3% in 2014-15 to
46.9% in 2015-16. This was mainly due to a fall in the proportion of unsuccessful outcomes due to
victim retractions (falling from 24.3% in 2014-15 to 22.5% in 2015-16); however this was alongside a
slight rise in victim non-attendance (from 21.4% in 2014-15 to 22.0% in 2015-16).
Out of all VAWG cases prosecuted, the proportion that was unsuccessful due to victim issues 43 has
fallen from 12.8% in 2014-15 to 12.1% in 2015-16.
Of the 117,568 defendants prosecuted, 109,081 defendants were male, 8,376 were female and in
111 cases the gender of the defendant was not recorded 44 . Where the gender of the defendant was
recorded, 92.9% were male and 7.1% were female 45 .
40 Note the numbers of defendants charged covers those cases, by suspect, forwarded to CPS during 2015-16
for charging decisions and are not directly comparable in numbers with those prosecuted which covers cases,
by defendant, finalised during 2015-16.
41 ‘Exclusive of mixed pleas’ are defendant cases where only ‘not guilty’ pleas are entered to all charges and a
trial ensues.
42 Victim issues include victim retractions, victim non-attendance and ‘evidence of victim does not support the
case’.
43 As in previous footnote.
44 It is not possible to provide data on the gender of victims in relation to the gender of the defendant from the
current data systems. Victim data is provided in the Equalities section on page 26.
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