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The Criminal Cases Review Commission (Ccrc)

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Submitted By jaielise
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The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC)
The Runciman Commission happened in 1993 and recommended the establishment of an independent body to consider suspected miscarriages of justice as a result of a number of high profile cases that were involved in a miscarriage of justice. These high profile cases included Birmingham Six, The Guilford Four and Judith Ward. The government took these ideas into account and the Criminal Cases Review Commission was set up under the Criminal Appeal Act (1995) and started in January 1997.
There are 12 commissioners who are all chosen by the Queen and who are all legally qualified professionals. The commission is chaired by Richard Foster who has been chair man since 2008. Including the 12 commissioners there are just 90 staff members working for the Criminal Cases Review Commission and as they get 16458 total applications a year this is a very small amount of people.
The Commission have the power to investigate possible miscarriages of justice and to refer back to the Court of Appeal. They are an independent working scheme but demand the police reinvestigate the case. However the Court of Appeal can ask the CCRC to look back at a case if they feel it would help resolve it. This can sometimes be the client’s only avenue left and last chance at freedom if they believe they’re innocent.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission had a total of 16,458 applications from 30th June 2013. The amount of cases waiting is 608 compared to the cases that went under review at 545. 15305 (including ineligible cases) were completed and 503 were referred. However, only 498 were heard by the Court of Appeal, 341 of which were quashed, 145 upheld and 2 reserved.
The CCRC has a large success rate with their earliest success being that of Derek Bentley who was hanged for murder in 1953. The CCRC took over his case around 1998 and referred the case back to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal came to the conclusion that the judge had unfairly summed up the trial and quashed the conviction. This was a very famous case for the fact that although it proved a success, Derek Bentley had already been hanged and for the large expense that the CCRC costs to review a case, this may have been seen as a waste of money and time.

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