Using the Conviction Rate as a metric leads to biased investigations

[Pond31]

I was just wondering what peoples opinions of using the "Conviction Rate" as a metric to measure how well a police force is performing. This means that the police have to meet targets that naturally biases their investigations towards seeking a conviction rather than seeking the truth. I shall do some literature searches in the scientific journals to see if I can find any evidence to support this as I think to campaigning against this a metric.

[TBG1]

I was just wondering what peoples opinions of using the "Conviction Rate" as a metric to measure how well a police force is performing. This means that the police have to meet targets that naturally biases their investigations towards seeking a conviction rather than seeking the truth. I shall do some literature searches in the scientific journals to see if I can find any evidence to support this as I think to campaigning against this a metric.

Interestingly, I disagree slightly....

....If the Conviction RATE is targetted, then I highly doubt that there are any Forces that are 'hitting tatget'.


I believe that the 'target' is more likely a certain number of successful convictions, rather than a % rate.

This would explain the reckless abandon that the authorities show when deciding to charge...If you "need" 100 convictions, charge 1000 and you will have it.


Personally I think if the target were a %age convicted of those charged , then the authorities would take far more care over their investigations and who they charge as a result.


Best Wishes

TBG1