The Comparative Study of Miscarriages of Justice in Light of the English Experience

A UCL Centre for Criminal Law event

Chair: David Ormerod KC, UCL Laws
Speaker: Kent Roach, University of Toronto

Commentators/Discussants:
Jon Robins (Brighton)
Hannah Quirk (KCL)
Henry Blaxland KC (Garden Court Chambers)

About this talk
What can be learned from the experience in England and Wales about remedying miscarriages of justice? This talk will discuss the English experience in the context of ongoing research that examines ways to remedy miscarriages of justice in Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the United States. The experience of a review commission limited to factual innocence in North Carolina and the recent creation of a criminal cases review commission in New Zealand and recent proposals in Canada will be examined. In addition, ambitious proposals in India to compensate “wrongful prosecutions” and the creation of second subsequent appeals in several Australian states will also be examined. Topics to be examined include the reaction of appellate courts to referrals of cases from the executive, referral and appeal tests including whether sentences should be in the mandate of review commissions, the dangers of underfunding commissions, factual innocence in relation to miscarriages of justice, the role of defence counsel and innocence projects, and the implications of the rise in the number of guilty plea wrongful convictions receiving remedies.