The Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 or CPIA Abbreviation used in

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Justi ...

Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (section 23(1)) Code of Practice
published March 2015, accessed 29 October 2022 is a piece of statutory

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

that regulates the procedures of investigating and prosecution of

criminal offences In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

Provisions

Part I: Disclosure

Following a section of introductory text, the act outlines the relevance of its content in the first section to persons charged with a

summary offence A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence). Canada In Canada, summary offe ...

indictable offence In many common law jurisdictions (e.g. England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore), an indictable offence is an offence which can only be tried on an indictment after a preliminary hearing ...

or one that is

triable either way A hybrid offence, dual offence, Crown option offence, dual procedure offence, offence triable either way, or wobbler is one of the special class offences in the common law jurisdictions where the case may be prosecuted either summarily or as ...

, as well as the criminal investigation into such an offence and as to whether such a person should be charged with the offence or found guilty of it once charged. It details the procedures for disclosure and continued disclosure by the prosecution to the defence any information "which is in the prosecutor’s possession, and came into his possession in connection with the case for the prosecution against the accused." It also defines a defence statement, defence witnesses and the means by which they should be interviewed, and confidentiality of disclosed information, and other statutory and

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...

rules of a

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

Part II: Criminal Investigations

The second part of the act defines a criminal investigation as "an investigation conducted by police officers with a view to it being ascertained whether a person should be charged with an offence, or whether a person charged with an offence is guilty of it." It outlines the codes of practice for any investigation set out by the Secretary of State and the means by which such a code could be revised.

Part III: Preparatory Hearings

Part IV: Rulings

Part V: Committal, Transfer etc.

Part VII: Miscellaneous and General (chapter 54 to 81)

Section 54

Section 54 of the act includes the follow

administration of justice The administration of justice is the process by which the legal system of a government is executed. The presumed goal of such an administration is to provide justice for all those accessing the legal system. The phrase is also commonly used to d ...

offences: *The offence of

perverting the course of justice Perverting the course of justice is an offence committed when a person prevents justice from being served on themselves or on another party. In England and Wales it is a common law offence, carrying a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Stat ...

*The offence under section 51(1) of the

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (c.33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It introduced a number of changes to the law, most notably in the restriction and reduction of existing rights, clamping down on unlicensed r ...

*An offence of aiding, abetting, counselling, procuring, suborning or inciting another person to commit an offence under section 1 of the

Perjury Act 1911 The Perjury Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo 5 c 6) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It creates the offence of perjury and a number of similar offences. This Act has effect as if section 89 of the Criminal Justice Act 1967 and section 80 ...

Cases

Environmental protesters charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass

In 2009, twenty six environmental protesters were pre-emptively arrested and later charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass. It was claimed that Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station was the intended target. In 2011, their cases were quashed when it was revealed police withheld recordings made by undercover police officer Mark Kennedy. Non-disclosure to the Crown Prosecution Service and defence teams is a breach of the act.

References

{{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1996 Criminal law of the United Kingdom