25 February 2020: Youth Commission visits the CPS

On February 14, 11 Youth Commission members had an amazing opportunity to go and visit the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) office in Eastleigh.

Casey Taylor, Youth Commission mentor and former member visited CPS Wessex with the Youth Commission members, and has written this blog about their visit.

The visit started with a talk from the Chief Crown Prosecutor Jo Jakymec. Jo told us a bit about herself and what her role entails and why she chose to work within the CPS. This was really informative and everyone was interested in what Jo had to say. We did not realise how many different roles there were with the CPS and all the different pathways there are with the CPS coving a whole range of different departments.

We also had the privilege to be joined by one of the Senior Crown Prosecutors David Fosler. David introduced himself to us and told us about what he does within his role. He shared three of his cases that he has dealt with recently, these were all around serious violence, and all of the outcomes have all been concluded at the court already.

He talked us through each case separately, whilst having a look through the evidence we were expressing our opinions about the case along with getting a better understanding of all the work that goes on behind the scenes. This it to make sure that they have got all the possible evidence to make the right charging decision. Also to see if more leads needs to be investigated by the Police so that a charging decision can be made.

David told us that in some cases that they change the offence during the court process due to new evidence coming to light, and the sentences vary for the different offences and depending how long the court process has taken.

Overall the whole visit to the CPS office was really beneficial, we learnt a lot from them and got to have a better understanding of the amount of work they have to do for each case, and the challenges they face within their roles on a daily basis. This was a brilliant opportunity for us to hear and engage with people who work within the criminal justice system.