News
The Crown Prosecution Services’ designated case workers (DCWs)—controversially awarded more power under statute this month—have been renamed associate prosecutors.
Under the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, s 55, DCWs were given a wider range of hearings in the magistrates’ courts, including the power to conduct contested trials of summary only, non-imprisonable offences.
The provision has been fiercely opposed by the Bar and the renaming of DCWs—approved by the attorney general last week—has also drawn criticism. Julia Beer, chair of the Young Barristers’ Committee says the restyling of DCW’s as associate prosecutors implies that DCW’s are qualified prosecutors. “If a DCW is to extend their work into this area it is in the interests of justice that they must be trained to an equivalent standard of a legally trained barrister or solicitor. It is our understanding that the new powers of a DCW cannot be exercised unless and until this training has been completed. Conferring the title of ‘associate prosecutor’ on a DCW before they have completed this training is premature. The notion that this is ‘paving the way’ appears to anticipate the outcome of any subsequent parliamentary approval under the affirmative resolution procedure which we fought hard to include in s 55. DCW’s must be properly trained as advocates and properly regulated to handle the types of cases which Parliament has approved.”
The attorney general says that since last April, associate prosecutors handled 20% of all CPS sessions in the magistrates’ court and are now established as “an efficient and effective means of dealing with straightforward advocacy”.
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