For someone still fighting to overturn their conviction following an unsuccessful appeal, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) may represent their last opportunity to have their case reconsidered.

The CCRC was established in 1997 as an independent body to consider suspected miscarriages of justice and wrongful convictions. It also reviews sentences where it can be shown that a fresh point of law or fresh information relevant to the sentence exists that was not raised or available at the time of sentencing.

Ordinarily, you can only apply to the CCRC once all available avenues of appeal have been exhausted, unless there are exceptional circumstances that explain why an appeal was not previously pursued. In other words, you will usually need to have already appealed to the relevant appeal court and had that appeal dismissed before making an application to the CCRC.

The CCRC can refer a case back to the Court of Appeal if it concludes that there is a ‘real possibility’ that the Court of Appeal would regard the conviction as unsafe in light of new evidence or information presented to it. The CCRC does not apply a test of guilt or innocence. Instead, it considers whether there is a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would overturn the conviction.

Applications to the CCRC require skill and careful preparation. In conviction cases, they require a forensic analysis of the earlier proceedings and carefully drafted written submissions.