When the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of the ‘Birmingham six’ the Home Secretary then decided to set up a RCCJ (Royal Commission on Criminal Justice) to into the miscarriage of justice from when the police arrested the suspects to the final appeal. The commission is more commonly known as the Runciman Commission. It was established under the Criminal Appeal Act 1995. The CCRC are an independent body and does not represent the police. The CCRC is NOT a Court of Appeal but it is a means of bringing possible miscarriages of justice back into the court system where further information comes to light or where there is continuing public concern. The cases will only be referred to the Court of Appeal if some new evidence or argument comes to light. The defendant must have sought an appeal on his own behalf and failed if it does get raised. The CCRC will look at the new evidence but will only refer cases if there is a ‘real possibility’ that the appeal courts would change the original decision. The Court of Appeal will only quash a conviction if it is decided that it is UNSAFE. In January 2011, statistics published by the CCRC showed they had instigated 310 quashed convictions.
The best thing about the Criminal Cases Review Commission is that it is very accessible, this is because the defendant, their family and even the Court itself can all apply to the CCRC for the case to be considered. It also does not charge for its services. Initially a number of the cases identified were miscarriages of justice from over 40 years ago, for example, the Derek Bentley case in 1953. In 1998 the Court of Appeal held that the summing up by the Judge was not satisfactory and quashed the conviction. Derek Bentley was a 19 year old boy hung after last-minute appeals for clemency were rejected. Bentley was sentenced to death on 11 December for killing Pc Miles during a bungled break-in at a warehouse in Croydon, Surrey. His sister then claimed that her brother had had learning difficulties and that he only had the brain age of a 13 year old. For years she kept his case in the public eye, writing letters to politicians, giving interviews and talks and writing a book. Eventually, in 1993 the then Home Secretary Michael Howard granted Bentley a partial pardon, saying it was clear he should never have been hanged but he remained guilty of taking part in the murder. In 1998 the Appeal Court quashed Bentley's conviction after going to the CCRC on the grounds the original trial judge was biased against the defendants and misdirected the jury on points of law. Scientific evidence also showed the three police officers who testified about Bentley shouting "Let him have it" had lied under oath.
A more recent case from the Criminal Cases Review Commission is the Sally Clark case 2003. Baby Christopher was born on September 22, 1996, and found dead in his Moses basket at 11 weeks. Death was certified as "natural causes" and Sally and Steve decided that the best bereavement therapy was another baby. Harry was born on November 29, 1997, and eight weeks later suddenly collapsed in his bouncy chair. The only common factor, which may or may not be relevant, is that both deaths followed shortly after vaccination. There is research into the possibility that these vaccinations can cause death within a few days if infants have certain genetic defects. After four weeks' delay, during which Sally and Steve had made several enquiries as to progress of the autopsy, both were arrested. Dr Williams reported retina and brain damage attributed to "baby shaking". The case was later referred to Professors Green and Meadow, a team well known in the profession and media for their campaign that up to 40% of cot deaths are in fact abuse, who thought it "likely" but were cautious enough to then recommend the cause of death as "unascertained." This then went on and Sally Clark after being called child smotherer, went to the CCRC with new scientific evidence. The charges were dropped and Sally Clark was let free because the case was deemed ‘UNSAFE’.
The process the Criminal Cases Review Commission would have gone through on both of these cases would have been; The application of the defendant against the conviction or length of sentence, then it would go onto the initial review by the CCRC to see how long it will take and screening of the case, it then goes to do 3 more things where they instruct public bodies to produce or preserve information (e.g. C.B.S police forensic service court), they make general enquiries can interview witnesses obtain expert evidence and instruct external bodies to make enquiries (i.e. the police). That then goes onto analysis of the research undertaken and this is undertaken by the case worker, then the decision is made by the CCRC, but there is only one commissioner if it is being turned down and 3 commissioners if it is going to the court of appeal.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission was set up by the previous government to investigate possible miscarriages or justice. It was established under the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 following the recommendations of the Runciman Commission. Previously to this, the powers to refer a case were held by the Home Secretary. The disadvantage of this was that there was not sufficient independence. The Home Secretary is part of the Executive (government) and has links with the police forces. This was not right for a politician to be involved with legal matters. This is because they can have influences from the police, which wouldn’t make it an un-fair case. When the CCRC was established it changed things for the good. This was because the CCRC now have the power to investigate and refer cases originally heard in the magistrates’ court to the Crown Court and from the Crown Court to the Court of Appeal. The appeal courts will have to decide in the conviction is safe. The court of appeal will only quash the conviction if it decides that the conviction is UNSAFE. They also have the power to refer cases to the appropriate court whenever it feels that there is a real possibility that the sentence will not be upheld. How ever it does not consider innocence or guilt but only whether new evidence casts doubt on the original verdict or sentence. It has wide ranging investigative powers. However, a wide range of the investigation is carried out by the police on the request of the CCRC. This is not idea because an independent inquiry. Many cases involve allegations of wrong doing by the police and the danger could be that the police close ranks and protect each other, which could make the investigation unreliable.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission made a good impact on miscarriages of justice because they would review cases when new scientific evidence or arguement. Advantages of the CCRC are that in January 2011 statistics published showed that they had instigated 310 quashed convictions. This shows that without the CCRC many miscarriages of justice would not have been dealt with. The CCRC is very accessible because the defendant, their family and even the court itself can all apply to the CCRC for the case to be considered. The CCRC does not charge for its services, which means it is not restricting for anyone. The CCRC give the defendant and 'extra' opportunity to challenge the criminal justice system and the CCRC has been seen to highlight very high profile miscarriages of justice, such as Derek Bentley. Derek was a 19 year old boy who was convited of killing a police officer in 1953, In 1998 the Court of Appeal held that the summing up by the Judge was not satisfactory and quashed the conviction. Derek Bentley was a 19 year old boy hung after last-minute appeals for clemency were rejected. Bentley was sentenced to death on 11 December for killing Pc Miles during a bungled break-in at a warehouse in Croydon, Surrey. His sister then claimed that her brother had had learning difficulties and that he only had the brain age of a 13 year old. For years she kept his case in the public eye, writing letters to politicians, giving interviews and talks and writing a book. Eventually, in 1993 the then Home Secretary Michael Howard granted Bentley a partial pardon, saying it was clear he should never have been hanged but he remained guilty of taking part in the murder. In 1998 the Appeal Court quashed Bentley's conviction after going to the CCRC on the grounds the original trial judge was biased against the defendants and misdirected the jury on points of law. Scientific evidence also showed the three police officers who testified about Bentley shouting "Let him have it" had lied under oath.
Sadly the impact of the Criminal Cases Review Commission does have some disadvantages, including the fact that the CCRC is not an appeal court which means it does not have the power to overturn/quash a conviction. It can sometimes be awkward because they can only consider cases which have been through and failed the ordinary appeal route. There has been evidence to suggest that the CCRC have a backlog of cases, apparently it can take them about 7 months to deal with a case, sometimes longer, which can cause problems. A large problem caused by the CCRC having low independance, they require the police to re-investigate which has called people to want them to have greater powers. Even though the CCRC have had amazing impacts, they still dont have not removed the reason why misscariages of justice occur. The CCRC has faced continuous financial cuts over the past four years.
Overall, the positives seem to be less than the negatives but those positives, make a massive difference to the system itself. The impact is that the misscariages of justice are sorted and that the people who are part of the CCRC are proud of what they have achieved. Many people have faith in the CCRC because of the many things they have done. In the future, they should improve, gain more authority and control and make sure miscarriages of justice are sorted. Maybe they will be able to stop miscarriages of justice before they happen!
