Laurie Elks

(Laurie Elks): This is the second response to the series on consultation that Democratic Audit is editing on ourKingdom.  Laurie Elks is a former member of the Criminal Cases Review Commission and author of Righting Miscarriages of Justice?: Ten Years of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, about the work of the Commission.  Previous articles in this series include Taking Consultation Seriously by Andrew Blick and Emily Hamilton, and Nuclear Consultation: Public Trust in Government by Paul Dorfman.

The Quashing Convictions[1] consultation was issued by the Home Secretary, John Reid, in September 2006 as part of the government’s agenda to rebalance the criminal justice system to favour the rights of victims over suspects. The consultation averred that following the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 it had been too easy for the guilty to overturn convictions at appeal on the basis of legal technicalities.