Commission finds no miscarriage in most cases
3 Jul 06
Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission annual report reveals 40% rise in investigations
There was no miscarriage of justice in the majority of cases reviewed by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission last year.
The commission's seventh annual report published today, covering the period 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006, discloses a 40% rise, from 118 to 165, in the number of cases it was asked to investigate.
The Commission was established in April 1999 to review alleged miscarriages of justice in Scottish criminal convictions and sentences independently of government and the Crown. As at 31 March 2006 the Commission had received a total of 784 cases and issued final decisions in 696 cases, 57 of which were referrals to the High Court.
The chairman, The Very Reverend Graham Forbes CBE, said: "The past year has been an exceptionally busy and successful one for the Commission. The level of new cases submitted has continued to increase dramatically, yet we have continued to exceed our key targets in terms of processing and concluding case reviews.
"We continue to find that there has been no miscarriage of justice in the majority of cases we review, which is reassuring. For those cases we refer back to the High Court, the Commission has demonstrated the importance of its independent review in the attainment of justice."
Chief executive Gerard Sinclair added: "Once again we have seen an increase in the number of cases received by the Commission for review, by about 40% this year, which I hope reflects the growing public understanding and confidence in the work that we do.
"I am pleased to report that, through hard work and improvements in efficiencies, we have been able to support this increase without the need to augment our present staffing levels.
"The High Court has also determined many more of our referrals, and there is now a useful body of decisions which assist in explaining and highlighting the work of the Commission. Our annual report has been fully revised, and provides more information than ever before on the workings and review process of the Commission, as well as some statistical analysis of the cases we accept and review."
The report is available free of charge from the Commission at 5th floor Portland House, 17 Renfield Street, Glasgow, tel: 0141 270 7030, fax: 0141 270 7023/40 or email: info@sccrc.org.uk .