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Criminal appeals

The Law Commission is consulting on reforms to the law governing criminal appeals, including the tests applied by appeal courts and the Criminal Cases Review Commission, post-trial retention of and access to evidence, and compensation and support for the wrongly convicted.

Consultation open until 30 May 2025

If you have an interest in or awareness of this area of law, we want to hear your views.

Find our how to respond

Read the full consultation paper and consultation paper summary. There is also a Welsh version of the summary, and an audio version of the summary.

Respond using the online response form.

If you need any of the documents in an alternative format, email us at: criminal.appeals@lawcommission.gov.uk.

Background (Back to top)

A person who has been convicted of a criminal offence can seek to challenge either their conviction or sentence by way of an appeal.

Appeals serve an important corrective function for individuals, whether this is to correct a miscarriage of justice, such as the conviction of someone who is factually innocent, or to correct a legal error such as imposing a harsher sentence than is legally permissible.

They also serve important public functions, in ensuring that the criminal law is interpreted and applied consistently and predictably, and in the development of the common law.

In recent years several leading bodies and organisations – including the Justice Select Committee and Westminster Commission on Miscarriages of Justice – have argued that the law in relation to criminal appeals is in need of reform.

Concerns have been expressed around requirements for new evidence and the tests used by the Court of Appeal Criminal Division (CACD) and the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) – the body responsible for investigating potential miscarriages of justice. Some groups have claimed that the current system can make it difficult for wrongly convicted people to appeal where exculpatory evidence was available but not used at trial, and/or to obtain and analyse evidence which might suggest a person’s innocence. Others we have spoken to expressed concerns about frameworks governing compensation and support for the wrongly convicted after their convictions are quashed.

Project (Back to top)

In July 2022, the Government asked the Law Commission to review the law relating to criminal appeals in criminal cases, with a view to ensuring that courts have powers that enable the effective, efficient and appropriate resolution of appeals.

In July 2023, we published an Issues Paper which sought views on potential law reform. We received over 150 responses to the Issues Paper

In 2024, we agreed with the Government to include compensation and support for the wrongly convicted in our review.

On 27 February 2025, we published a consultation paper and are now undertaking a three-month public consultation ending on 30 May 2025. In the paper, we consider:

the principles that should govern the criminal appeals system;
appeals from “summary proceedings” in magistrates’ courts;
appeals by children and young people and reviews of certain sentences;
convicted persons’ appeals to the CACD and the “substantial injustice” test applied by the CACD when dealing with appeals based on a change in the law;
the CCRC, and specifically the “real possibility” test it applies when deciding whether to refer convictions or sentences to appeal courts;
the powers of the Attorney General to refer sentences as “unduly lenient” or points of law to the CACD;
the powers of the prosecution to appeal against certain adverse trial decisions and to apply to quash acquittals for serious offences on the basis of new and compelling evidence;
appeals against bail decisions and decisions on reporting restrictions;
criminal appeals to the Supreme Court;
post-trial retention and disclosure of evidence;
compensation and support for the wrongly convicted;
dealing with systemic miscarriages of justice; and
preventing miscarriages of justice.

Our provisional proposals include:

replacing the “real possibility test” used by the CCRC when considering whether to refer cases to appeal courts with one focusing on the CCRC’s own view of the case, rather than requiring it to predict the court’s response;
making the CCRC subject to an independent inspectorate;
replacing the requirement for the wrongly convicted to prove their innocence beyond reasonable doubt to receive compensation so that those who can prove their innocence on the balance of probabilities will receive compensation;
simplifying appeals to the High Court on a point of law in summary proceedings by abolishing the “case stated” procedure;
giving courts and the CCRC greater powers to investigate claims that a conviction is unsafe due to juror misconduct; and
enabling more appeals to be considered by the Supreme Court by removing the requirement for the CACD or High Court to certify that an appeal involves a question of law of general public importance.

We also seek views on a number of topics, including:

the core principles that should apply to criminal appeals;
the time limits for lodging appeals;
the law governing the composition and terms of appointment for CCRC Commissioners;
whether the “unduly lenient” sentence scheme should be expanded to cover offences such as causing death by careless driving and animal cruelty;
whether provisions allowing for a person who has previously been acquitted to be retried when there is compelling new evidence should be extended to cover non-penetrative sexual offences, and certain historic offences that are not currently covered;
whether it should be lawful to disclose evidence for the purposes of responsible journalism to reveal a possible miscarriage of justice; and
establishing a National Forensic Archive Service to take over responsibility for long-term storage of evidence used in trials.

We want to hear the views of those with experience of the criminal appeals system, such as lawyers, academics or groups with interests in miscarriages of justice, or those who have tried to appeal against their conviction or sentence, successfully or unsuccessfully, and their families. However, we are unable to become involved in individual cases.

Next steps

We are currently conducting a public consultation, following the publication of our consultation paper in February 2025. After the consultation closes on 30 May 2025, we will analyse responses, with a view to publishing a final report with recommendations in 2026.