CCRC launches Case Studies Hub exploring key themes of its work  

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has launched a Case Studies Hub where users can find informative in-depth features on key themes of its work.  

As with the CCRC Case Library, which launched last September, this new resource will help inform potential applicants and members of the public about the organisation’s work, our tests and processes, and the kinds of cases that have resulted in references to the appeal courts.  

We have launched the Case Studies Hub with four articles, looking at: 

• Unreliable confession cases 

• Reviews into ‘controlled delivery’ drug operations  

• Asylum & immigration investigations 

• Referrals of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences 

We will publish new case studies fortnightly. Future topics will include police misconduct, legal incompetence, judicial errors, and mistaken identity.  

Each feature will link to individual case studies from our Case Library, a listing of all referrals the CCRC has made since beginning work in 1997 where you can search, filter and read summaries of our referrals.  

The Case Studies Hub can be reached via the Case Library on the CCRC’s website. 

A CCRC spokesperson said: “These thematic case studies will help people understand more fully the range of the work carried out by our team, and the basis on which our many hundreds of referrals have been made.  

“We hope this will assist potential applicants and support our work in finding and investigating possible miscarriages of justice.”  

The CCRC has so far referred more than 860 cases back to the courts. More than 840 of those cases have now been heard, with the appeal successful in more than two thirds of them. 

You can view the Case Studies Hub here.

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Notes to Editors: 

1. The CCRC is an independent body set up under the Criminal Appeal Act 1995. It is responsible for independently reviewing suspected and alleged miscarriages of criminal justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is based in Birmingham and is funded by the Ministry of Justice.     

2. There are currently nine Commissioners who bring to the CCRC considerable experience from a wide variety of backgrounds. Commissioners are appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the Prime Minister in accordance with the Office for the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice.  

3. The CCRC usually receives around 1,500 applications for reviews (convictions and/or sentences) each year. Since starting work in 1997, the CCRC has referred around 3% of applications to the appeal courts.     

4. The CCRC considers whether, as a result of new evidence or argument, there is a real possibility that the conviction or sentence would not be upheld were a reference to be made. Applicants should usually have appealed first. A case can be referred in the absence of new evidence or argument or an earlier appeal only if there are “exceptional circumstances”.          

5. If a case is referred, it is then for the appeal court to decide whether the conviction is unsafe.     

6. More details about the role and work of the Criminal Cases Review Commission can be found at www.ccrc.gov.uk. The CCRC can be found on X, Facebook, Instagram (@the_ccrc) and Linkedin.