Female Genital Mutilation
The question
To ask the Solicitor General, whether he has sought advice from the Crown Prosecution Service on the potential impact of articles in medical journals on (a) evidential thresholds and (b) prosecutorial decision-making in cases involving female genital mutilation.
Answered by Ellie Reeves
The CPS role is to make sure the right person is prosecuted for the right offence. Prosecutors apply the Code for Crown Prosecutors when making charging decisions in all cases, including FGM. The evidential threshold, whether the evidence provides a realistic prospect of conviction, requires prosecutors to consider the reliability and credibility of the evidence. Where relevant to a particular case, prosecutors may consider admissible expert medical evidence. However, academic commentary does not change the legal tests or the CPS decision making framework.
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