After Ten Years: An Investment in Justice?

Abstract

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) replaced a division at the Home Office, C3, which consisted of 21 staff, plus three staff at the Northern Ireland Office. The division received between 700 and 800 applications a year, of which around 10 per year were referred to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) (CACD). This division was accused of being slow, inefficient, reactive rather than proactive, and of showing too great a deference to the CACD. The Royal Commission on Criminal Justice’s (RCCJ’s) diagnosis of the perceived reluctance of C3 to refer cases to the CACD was that it reflected a constitutional problem: C3 was part of a Government department and, as such, was handicapped in making referrals by the doctrine of separation of powers, which requires the executive not to interfere with the judicial system (RCCJ, 1993: ch. 11).¹