Miscarriages of justice
Looking for legal advice? JUSTICE does not take up individual cases, so we are unable to help you directly. But these organisations may be able to offer advice.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission
JUSTICE first called for an independent statutory body to investigate miscarriages of justice in 1964. We repeated this call in our 1989 report, Miscarriages of Justice, and in our evidence to the 1993 Royal Commission on Criminal Justice. Our 1995 report, Remedying Miscarriages of Justice, set out a blueprint for a new body, which was established in 1997 as the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). JUSTICE staff were consulted for advice in the early stages of setting up the Commission.
Since the CCRC began its work, we have stopped taking on miscarriages of justice casework, but maintain an interest in developments in CCRC procedures. In 2008 we published Righting Miscarriages of Justice? Ten years of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an analysis of the CCRC's first decade of operation.
Compensation
JUSTICE has repeatedly called for changes to compensation procedures for people who are released after being wrongly convicted. At present, compensation is not immediately available when a conviction is quashed. This is the time when it is most needed.
How to Appeal
How to Appeal: A guide to the criminal appeal system is a JUSTICE booklet providing simple, accessible information on the appeal system and procedures – aimed at prisoners and those advising them.