Righting Miscarriages of Justice?

Ten years of the Criminal Cases Review Commission

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has its genesis in a series of catastrophic wrongful convictions in the 1970s. The cases of the Guildford Four, the Maguire Seven and the Birmingham Six marked a low point in British justice.

The Runciman Commission, set up in response to these high-profile miscarriages, recommended anindependent body to review potentially unsafe convictions. And on 1 April 1997 that body, theCCRC, began its work.

Ten years on, how has the CCRC fared? Have criticisms – from defence lawyers on the one hand and the Court of Appeal on the other – been justified? Indeed, given apparent improvements in criminal procedure in recent years, does it still have a role at all?

In this book, Laurie Elks, one of the original Commissioners, analyses the cases referred to the Court of Appeal by the CCRC in its first ten years. He provides the first comprehensive review of the achievements of the CCRC as well as an informed and frank assessment of how it, and the Court of Appeal, deal with cases of suspected miscarriages of justice.

ISBN 978 0 907247 45 6 • 400 pages • Paperback • published October 2008

This publication is no longer available in hard copy but you can download a copy by following the link below.

JUSTICE is grateful to the Law Society Charity for its support of this publication

Author

Laurie Elks

Published