Sofronoff report points to need for Miscarriages of Justice Unit
Mr Cope President of the QCCL said today: “The Sofronoff Report into the failures at the Queensland Forensic Lab contains many recommendations which the QCCL welcomes as necessary to restore credibility to that institution and ensure public confidence in the criminal justice system.”
“At the same time the report exposes a serious gap in our State’s criminal justice system - the absence of a body to investigate claims of miscarriages of justice.” said Mr Cope
In this State there is effectively no option open to a person who is the victim of a miscarriage of justice other than to rely upon the totally unsatisfactory avenue of trying to get a conviction overturned in the Court of Appeal on the basis of fresh evidence.
“All of the processes by which victims of miscarriages of justice in this State can seek redress depend to some extent on the sympathy or otherwise of the Attorney General of the State.
This is entirely unsatisfactory. It is time for the government to implement the recommendation of Fitzgerald in his 1989 report that there be a unit to review claims of miscarriages of justice in the Criminal Justice System
We must address the question of wrongful convictions because wrongful acquittals are quite different from wrongful convictions as they do not involve the unconscionable incarceration of an innocent.
The model for this is the UK Criminal Cases Review Commission. The CCRC was set up in 1997 after a number of well-known cases – including the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four. Someone who has been convicted and sentenced, lost their appeal or been refused permission to go to the court of appeal, can apply to the CCRC for a review.
We acknowledge that such a Commission could be expensive and would suggest the Queensland Attorney General should work with the other Attorneys General to create a national body
“Fortunately, Mr Sofronoff found it most unlikely that any innocent people have been wrongly convicted as a result of the lab failures. However, the UK Commission has variously estimated that between two to five percent of the British prison population at any given time are victims of miscarriages of justice. We see no reason why that would not be the case here.”