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Justice body is too cautious on Miscarriages of Justice.


Too few cases are being referred to the Court of Appeal because the justice body that reviews them have taken too much of a cautious approach.

Following a report from the Justice committee it has been highlighted that the Criminal Cases Review Commission had been failing in its duty because of a weak approach and that, had it been stronger, it would have referred more cases to the Court of Appeal which in turn would have had benefits for the judicial process.
The purpose of the Criminal Case Review Commission is to decide if there have been any miscarriages of justice, when asked to do so.

The report identifies that the public body was underfunded and had been finding it hard to cope following a reduction of 30% of its budget, it also felt that the commission had worked under concerns that it would fail with cases it referred to the court of Appeal, it was largely this fear of the Court of Appeal disagreeing with the commission, that had indoctrinated such a cautious approach.

The report would have been more positive had the commission referred more cases but failed, rather than having a higher percentage success rate, taking a bolder approach would in turn lead to more miscarriages of justice being over turned.

The report also highlighted the need for the commission to have greater powers in obtaining disclosure, in the case that the evidence is held by another public body it seems farcical that it was difficult to obtain disclosure.

I would find it a concern if the next Parliament does not redress these issues, in terms of funding and amendments to the present legislation.



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