Criminal Cases Review Commission:
in need of radical reform - or abolition?

The CCRC, set up to conduct thorough reviews of cases in which a serious claim of miscarriage of justice has been brought to its attention, has for a long time been failing to carry out this work to the standard expected of it by Parliament, when it was set up following the Criminal Appeal Act of 1993, according to UAI member organisations.
Applications are processed through desktop reviews, which involve no more than the reading of exisiting case files. Every reason is found to refuse applications, while work that might support applicants' claims is rarely carried out. Not spending money and processing the maximum number of cases in the minimum amount of time appear to be the two dominant aims of this organisation.
Yet the CCRC is the only organisation with the power to refer a case for a second appeal. It refers a tiny proportion of cases to the appeal court. This demonstrates that the criminal justice system rarely makes any mistakes, and all police officers, lawyers and judges are invariably competent, honest, diligent and committed to finding truth and ensuring that justice is done.
From long and bitter experience, we know otherwise.
There are now calls for the CCRC to be either radically reformed, or abolished. They are up for discussion: we need to decide what we need from the CCRC and/or the criminal justice system and the government, and how we should go about getting what we need. And this is urgent: anyone involved in UAI and its member organisations will be aware that the number of miscarriages of justice is increasing rapidly.
We need to unite behind a demand with which we all agree.
So please respond to the proposals:
1: Campaign to Scrap the CCRC
2: INUK's proposals for radical reform

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1. Call for a United National Campaign to Scrap the CCRC

Initial Organising Meeting
Saturday January 28th 2012
10:00am - 3:30pm
Clifton Old School
Clifton Road
Balsall Heath
Birmingham B12 8NJ

The CCRC is an obstacle to us all. Because of the way that the CCRC was created (fuelled by subsequent legislation) it was designed to be, and has become, a more and more effective block to people overturning their wrongful convictions. And the longer it is in existence the worse it will get. This is something that we should not and cannot tolerate.

Over the past years the building blocks of a Miscarriage of Justice movement are taking shape. It is time for us all to come together and in a united effort push for an agreed radical change to how our cases will be 'reviewed'.

We need the question of innocence to be given some taken into consideration. We need to have our say in how miscarriages are investigated and dealt with. We need a concerted united campaign that will bring together prisoners, ex prisoners, families, academics, MPs, and celebrities to challenge the legitimacy of the CCRC, give a national profile to the issue and agree a solution that will be fair to us.

This initial meeting is a delegate meeting, calling for organisations and campaigns to send a maximum of 2 representatives to come along to discuss setting up this campaign which will be an independent campaign made up of all those that can unite under agreed demands for radical change to the appeal process.

NOTE: It is accepted that there are many other issues that we need to unite around. If / when successful then we will march forward to bring about other changes.

PROPOSED AGENDA
10:00 Introductions and registration.
10:15 Agree agenda and appoint a chair.
10:20 Welcome and outline of aims.
10:30 A Critical Eye on the CCRC
11:00 Discussion on the aims of a campaign and what we want as an end goal.
12:30 LUNCH
1:15 Agreeing our aims / goals. (Drawing on the discussion from the morning)
1:45 Resources.
2:00 Campaign plans and strategy
3:00 Name of campaign.
Election of post holders.
The next steps.
3:30 END

To confirm your attendance please contact Russ Spring:
 russtspring@riseup.net or tel. 07806 557 509
Lunch and refreshments will be provided. If you have special dietary needs then please let us know and we will accommodate where possible.
If you are arriving by public transport inform us in advance of your arrival time in Birmingham and we will arrange to meet you and take you to the venue. Do not plan to arrive in Birmingham any later than 9:45.
If you need assistance will travel costs then get in touch in advance.

This will be an organising meeting. We will be needing to make decisions.
We hope you will be able to make the meeting. If you can not attend but wish to contribute ideas or want to be kept in touch then use the WMAI email address below.

The venue is on the South of Birmingham approx 1.5 miles from the city centre between the A345 (Moseley Road to Evesham, Redditch) and the A41 (Stratford Road to Stratford). Google search St Paul's Community Development Trust (B'ham)

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2 The Innocence Network UK undertakes investigations into alleged wrongful convictions through the innocence project that it established at the University of Bristol, the first innocence project in the UK.
Click here for the University of Bristol Innocence Project website
Additionally, INUK has to date actively assisted in setting up over 30 innocence projects in other universities in England, Scotland and Wales. It provides a casework referral service to member innocence projects that agree to work to the INUK Protocols, linking them with eligible applicants to undertake independent, objective investigations.

INUK argues that the CCRC is failing because of

  • its lack of independence from the courts, and
  • the incompetence of its investigations

INUK proposes that

  • the CCRC should not simply seek 'fresh evidence', but review all the evidence in cases;a new, straightforward test the CCRC should apply to cases,
  • the CCRC should refer a case if it thinks that the applicant is or might be actually innocent, and
  • the CCRC should make use of its power to recommend the use of the royal perogative of mercy in cases where the Court of Appeal refuses to overturn an application referred to it by the CCRC.

Click here for press release

For more detail and explanation, please visit INUK's page Criminal Justice System Still Failing the Innocent