Last month I posted a blog regarding my feeling on 'Miscarriages of Justice' since then it has come to my attention that not only had I not read deeply enough into the topic, I literally had no clue what I was talking about and what really has and is yet to happen. Luckily for me this was brought to my attention early enough that I could reconsider my presentation for my 'Police and Society' class and early enough that I was now 100% sure I had chosen the correct subject for my dissertation. There is more to this topic than my opinions at first glance...So, i've given it another go from a more legal view...

R v McIlkenny and others [1992] , also known as ‘The Birmingham 6’ were six irish men who were convicted of the murder of 21 people in a bombing at Birmingham new street. The men spent 16 years in prison until their case was overturned due to unreliable scientific evidence, statements were tampered with and Police misconduct. This is the most notorious miscarriage of justice closely followed by R v Bow Street Stipendiary Magistrates Court , also known as ‘the Guildford four’. Both cases were said to have breached the PACE act 1984 as the Police involved abused the process in order to secure a prosecution. The Royal Commission on Criminal Justice is a committee who was created to look at the problems in the system and then think of ways to ensure that miscarriages of justice will not occur again. They established the Criminal Case Review Commission (CCRC) as a way of trying to prevent miscarriages of justice. It was set up in March 1997 be the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 .
Miscarriages of Justice happen because of a number of things. This includes: deliberate fabrications of evidence, human error, unreliable scientific evidence, unreliable confessions, jury issues, non-disclosure of relevant evidence, prejudice within court and limited grounds to appeal. We have the CCRC to help those who have suffered injustice to appeal which will fix current problems. But it is the Police who need to make sure they are not abusing the system and make sure they are adhering to the PACE guidelines so to ensure they do not occur in the first place.