Prosecutors could be given the power to direct police investigations under plans for a “once in a generation” overhaul of the criminal justice system.
Boris Johnson has committed to establishing a royal commission on the criminal justice process, to be launched as soon as next month.
The Times has been told that the commission will examine the procurator fiscal model in Scotland, in which prosecutors have the power to direct police investigations into serious crimes. Prosecutors have similar powers in France.
It comes amid warnings that the criminal justice system in England and Wales is “at breaking point” after a decade of cuts, with sharp falls in convictions for rape, robberies involving the use of knives, theft and fraud.
The fall in convictions is
