School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet)

What happens when someone believes they are wrongfully convicted? In the UK applications are made to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the only body that can refer a case back to the Court of Appeal once direct appeal options are exhausted.

Mai Sato and Carolyn Hoye’s new book looks at applications for post-conviction review in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, scrutinizing the Commission’s operational practices, it’s working rules and assumptions and considers how all these influence its understanding of the ‘real possibility test’ - whether the Commission believes there is ‘real possibility’ that the Court will quash the original conviction.

This book is the first empirical study of all stages of the Commission decision-making.

Available through Oxford University Press.

The book has recently been reviewed on the NewLawJournal .

A more in depth blog about the book is also available on Oxford University’s All Souls Blog.