Criminal Case Review Commission

in place to punish on behalf of the crown those who commit crimes
1. ultimately instil public confidence that law and order is being maintained and to act as a deterrent to those who may commit crimes
when the case comes to court, the judge or jury has been proven beyond reasonable doubt; and the responsibility to convince a judge or jury of this
1. burden of proof lies with the prosecution in most cases
  1. because there is the presumption of innocence, and every suspect is innocent until proven guilty.
    1. Under a6 ECHR, every person has the right to a fair trial and it’s important that all procedural rules are adhered to; there could be a miscarriage of justice
set up to investigate possible miscarriages of justice; which has led to innocent people being imprisoned
1. e.g. Birmingham 6
  1. only way case reinvestigated to let people innocent go
    1. e.g. Sion Jenkins
do not have the power to overturn a conviction, they can just send it back to the Court of Appeal or demand it to be reinvestigated by the police
1. CCRC is an independent body that cannot be influenced by any other criminal justice system
One of the first cases that were reinvestigated was the case of Derek Bentley; who was unfortunately hung before finding he was innocent. Thus he did not receive justice.
To provide a better system for possible miscarriages of justice they are appointed by the Queen
1. One third is legally qualified and the other two thirds have had relevant experience in the Criminal Justice System
The CCRC have been quite successful as they’ve quashed over 300 cases.
1. Although, the appeal court is not actually on official court; thus their release is not guaranteed
Anyone can complain to the CCRC including the defendant or family
1. However, there are a lot of cases to be reinvestigated
  1. Their statistics mark a “successful” outcome of anything with a positive result, reduced sentence
There will always be miscarriages of justice but the only way to get a successful outcome is to investigate the miscarriage
1. They’ve been rather successful and have been able to release innocent people or could have such as, Derek Bentley and Sion Jenkins
STRENGTHS
1. CCRC is very accessible; the defendant, their family and even the court itself can apply to the CCRC for the case to be considered
2. CCRC gives the defendant an ‘extra’ opportunity to challenge the criminal justice system
3. CCRC has been seen to highlight very high profile miscarriages of justice – Derek Bentley
WEAKNESSES
1. CCRC is not an appeal court, and therefore does not have the power to overturn an appeal or quash a conviction
2. Has been evidence to suggest that the CCRC has a severe backlog of cases – January 2011 there were 273 cases that were still waiting consideration
3. CCRC will often send the case back to the police for investigation. This questions the independence of the commission, since the police can often be the cause of the miscarriage of justice

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Criminal Case Review Commission

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