Disclosure of Previous convictions of witnesses involved in prosecution cases

Christopher John made this Freedom of Information request to Crown Prosecution Service

The request was partially successful.

From: Christopher John

13 May 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

i) Could you please provide of the rules on the disclosure of
previous convictions of witnesses to the defence team in criminal
prosecutions and proceedings?

ii) Could you also provide any guidance in regards to the
disclosure or non-disclosure of such witness convictions in private
prosecution proceedings?

iii) If the guidance between private and public prosecutions is
different what implications are there when a private prosecution is
'taken over' or adopted formally by the Crown?

Many thanks

Yours faithfully,

Christopher John

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From: Freedom of Information Unit
Crown Prosecution Service

13 May 2009

Christopher Jones

[1][FOI #11891 email]

Our ref: 1777

Dear Mr Jones

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 REQUEST

Thank you for your request for information in relation to disclosure of
previous convictions of witnesses. Your request was received on 13 May
2009 and we are dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

Please note there is a 20 working day time limit (from receipt of request)
in which we are required to respond to requests under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. The deadline for your request is 11 June 2009.
However, we will endeavour to respond sooner.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, we
will let you know the likely charges before proceeding.

Yours sincerely

Charlotte Keen

Information Management Unit

Crown Prosecution Service

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From: Freedom of Information Unit
Crown Prosecution Service

20 May 2009

Attachment John 1777.doc
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Dear Mr John

Please find attached a response to your Freedom of Information request,
which we received on 13 May 2009.

Kind regards

Charlotte Keen

Information Management Unit

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Christopher John left an annotation (21 May 2009)

Our ref: 1777

Dear Mr John

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 REQUEST

Thank you for your Freedom of Information Act request which we received on 13 May 2009.

In that request you asked for the following:

i) Could you please provide of the rules on the disclosure of

previous convictions of witnesses to the defence team in criminal

prosecutions and proceedings?

ii) Could you also provide any guidance in regards to the

disclosure or non-disclosure of such witness convictions in private

prosecution proceedings?

iii) If the guidance between private and public prosecutions is

different what implications are there when a private prosecution is

'taken over' or adopted formally by the Crown?

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 creates a statutory right of access to information held by public authorities i.e. the Crown Prosecution Service. This right is to be informed whether the information requested is held by the public authority or not, and if the information exists, for it to be communicated. A public authority must reply to such a request promptly and in any event, not later than twenty working days after receipt.

The individual's right to information is not unqualified and subject to a number of exceptions and exemptions that are contained within the Act. The majority of these exemptions are qualified, that is to say the decision whether to confirm or deny the information's existence or to disclose the requested material, will be subject to a public interest.

The Freedom of Information Act is a public disclosure regime, not a private regime. Any information disclosed under it is thereafter deemed to be in the public domain, and therefore freely available to the general public.

In relation to questions 1 and 2, the information you have requested is already reasonable accessible to you by other means and is therefore exempt at section 21 of the Act. I have, however, attached a link below to the guidance on the CPS website in relation to disclosure of previous convictions of prosecution witnesses.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/d_to_g/discl...

Guidance in relation to disclosure of material to third parties - and other matters relating to Private Prosecutions, including the processes to be followed when the CPS take over a Private Prosecution, can be found in the legal guidance on the CPS website.

[Author ID1: at Wed May 20 13:57:00 2009 ][Author ID1: at Wed May 20 13:57:00 2009 ][Author ID1: at Wed May 20 13:57:00 2009 ]http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/p_to_r/priva... ID1: at Wed May 20 13:57:00 2009 ][Author ID1: at Wed May 20 13:57:00 2009 ][Author ID1: at Wed May 20 13:57:00 2009 ]

I can confirm that the CPS does not hold any other information falling within the scope of your request.

If you are unhappy with the decisions made in relation to your request from the Crown Prosecution Service you may ask for an internal review within two calendar months of the date of this letter. If you wish to request an internal review, please contact the Freedom of Information Unit (Appeals), 50 Ludgate Hill, London, EC4M 7EX.

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