Criminal Cases Review Commission

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is the statutory body responsible for investigating alleged miscarriages of justice in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It was established by Section 8 of the Criminal Appeal Act of 1995 and began work on 31 March 1997. The Commission is the only body in its area of jurisdiction with the power to send a case back to an appeals court if it concludes that there is a real possibility that the court will overturn a conviction or reduce a sentence. Since starting work in 1997, it has on average referred 33 cases a year for appeal.

From 31 March 1997 through 31 July 2016, the Commission referred 625 cases back to appeals courts, or almost one case for every eight working days (see casework statistics below). Those referrals came from a total of 20,126 cases closed during that period, meaning that the commission has referred for appeal around 3.4% of the applications it has considered. Of the cases it has referred, approximately 70% have succeeded on appeal.

The cases referred for appeal by the Commission tend to come from the most serious end of the criminal spectrum; just over 25% of referrals have been for murder convictions, almost 12% have been for rapes, and 8% have been for robberies. The rest relate to a mixture of other offences, mostly serious and indictable-only.

The Criminal Appeal Act of 1995, which created the Commission, requires it to consider applications regarding convictions from both the Crown Court and magistrates' court. About 90% of all applications received, and 95% of the commission's referrals, relate to Crown Court cases for which the appellate court is the Court of Appeal. Magistrates' court cases are appealed in the Crown Court.

The Commission currently receives around 1,500 applications a year. Applications are made in writing by people with criminal convictions or by their representatives. It is not necessary to have a lawyer to apply to the commission, but around half of all applicants are assisted by a lawyer.

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