%0 Journal Article
%T Prosecuting Domestic Abuse in England and Wales: Crown Prosecution Service ¡®Working Practice¡¯ and New Public Managerialism
%A Antonia Porter
%J Social & Legal Studies
%@ 1461-7390
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0964663918796699
%X The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) regards offences of domestic abuse as ¡®particularly serious¡¯ and considers tackling violence against women a ¡®priority¡¯. This article examines how criminal prosecutors in England and Wales approach cases of intimate partner abuse in practice, specifically at the point when a complainant no longer wishes to support the prosecution. It first introduces ¡®New Public Managerialism¡¯ (NPM). This is the lens through which the qualitative responses of a sample of nine prosecutors are thematically analysed. Second, the primary research indicates a prosecutorial tendency or ¡®working practice¡¯ in 2017 disinclined to terminate cases on request, prompting instead the routine or habitual use of ¡®witness summons¡¯. Third, the article exposes how techniques of NPM have contributed to the identified ¡®working practice¡¯, often in concealed and unintended ways. Managerial priorities in this context appear to have restricted the free exercise of the prosecutor¡¯s discretion to take decisions on a case-by-case basis. The implications for women¡¯s safety and autonomy are considered
%K Crown Prosecution Service
%K domestic violence and abuse
%K managerialism
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0964663918796699