It is years overdue, but after over a decade of Campaign Against Antisemitism repeatedly calling for the CPS to record and publish figures for prosecutions for antisemitic hate crime, the CPS has now finally adopted this policy.
In the past, former Directors of Public Prosecutions (DPPs), who lead the Crown Prosecution Service, have at our prodding promised Home Secretaries that the CPS would break down these figures, only to renege once they left the room.
We wrote to the current DPP just a few weeks ago reiterating our call for a policy change.
In the wake of the Golders Green stabbings earlier this year and then-Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s demand that the CPS and other bodies do more in the fight against antisemitism, the CPS has now finally agreed to transparency.
We are grateful to DPP Stephen Parkinson for introducing this belated and much-needed change. It will begin to restore the battered trust between the Jewish community and the CPS and will improve law enforcement in this country going forward.
We cannot hold public bodies to account if they make it impossible to assess their performance, and they cannot improve without public scrutiny. This policy change vindicates our years of advocacy and is an important milestone in the fight against antisemitism.
