The Private Prosecutors’ Association (“the PPA”) was founded by practitioners with expertise in bringing private prosecutions. The PPA’s objectives are to identify and promote best practice, encourage adherence to appropriate standards by practitioners and safeguard the rights of defendants in the context of private prosecutions.
A steering committee has been established under the oversight of the PPA Committee and has, with the assistance of working groups formed from PPA members and Peter Hungerford-Welch, Assistant Dean (Head of Professional Programmes) at the City Law School, created a draft Code for Private Prosecutors (“the Draft Code”) which, once finalised will become the Code for Private Prosecutors (“the Code”) and will be published on the PPA’s website.
A copy of the Draft Code can be found by clicking below.
It is proposed that, once completed, adherence to the Code will be voluntary but that membership of the PPA will be conditional upon confirmation that the member practices in accordance with the Code. Others bringing private prosecutions, defending private prosecutions and members of the judiciary would be encouraged to refer to the Code and treat it as an indication of the standards which experts in this field consider to be applicable.
This consultation invites comments on the Draft Code from the public, as well as key stakeholders, with a view to ensuring that the Draft Code is drawn from a wide body of experience, including that of defence practitioners, the judiciary and law enforcement agencies.
Consultation dates
The consultation opens at 09:00 on 21 January 2019.
The consultation period is extended to 17:00 on 8 March 2019.
How to respond to the consultation
Please complete the web form by following the link below.
The web form has a number of questions for completion. Answers must be entered in the boxes provided. If you do not wish to answer a question, please leave it blank. You can save the form by clicking the “Save and Continue Later” button at the bottom of the form. This will send a link to your email address. You can continue to edit the form by clicking on the link. When you have completed the form, please click the “Submit” button at the bottom of the form.
All responses must be provided via the web form. The form must be submitted by 17:00 on 6 March 2019. Responses which are submitted late or in another form will not be considered.
What happens after the consultation?
Following the consultation, the PPA, assisted by its members and Peter Hungerford-Welch, will review the comments and revise the Draft Code as appropriate. The PPA Committee will have ultimate responsible for determining the content of the Code in its final form.
We are aiming to publish the final Code for Private Prosecutors on the PPA website in May 2019 at which point, our members will be asked to confirm that they agree to abide by it.
