Secret CPS targets may have led to rape cases being dropped

Rape prosecutions are at their lowest level in more than a decade Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PA ArchiveTens of thousands of rape cases may have been dropped because of secret targets implemented by the Crown Prosecution Service, it has emerged.The unofficial policy for prosecutors to have “levels of ambition” of achieving a 60% conviction rate in rape cases may have encouraged them to drop cases where there was not a high prospect of conviction.The hidden benchmark could go so