Reviewing rape cases

SIR – You report (September 22) that “a major review into rape convictions” will “examine a fraction of the cases where a miscarriage of justice may have occurred”.

It is our normal practice to undertake such reviews whenever systematic failures in the criminal justice system come to light. Dip sampling is a tried-and-tested method to assess the scale of any problem.

The real story is not that this Commission is undertaking a review but that no other part of the criminal justice system is doing likewise. There is every likelihood that some people currently in custody, and who have never applied to this Commission, were wrongly convicted because of disclosure failings by the police and Crown Prosecution Service.

A much wider review of these cases is needed. Given that disclosure failings are failings by the police and prosecutors acting on behalf of the state, it is the state’s responsibility to put things right. This Commission has urged those concerned to consider taking action accordingly. Richard Foster

Chairman

Criminal Cases Review Commission Birmingham