Miscarriages of justice: A misscarriage of justice refers to when a person who has
appealed their guilty verdict and won their appeal. They are wrong convictions. Miscarriages
of justice occur more frequently than people may believe which I have picked up from a
number of case studies. The first case I have studied is the case of the Stockwell Six.
Courtney Harriot, Paul Green and Cleveland Davidson were part of a group of six young
Black men who later became known as the Stockwell Six. The men were charged with
assault with intent to rob a police officer in plain clothes on the London Underground in 1972
.The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates miscarriages of
justice, referred Johnson’s conviction for assault with intent to rob to the court of appeal after
judges cleared the names of three of his friends earlier this year. Courtney Harriot, Paul
Green and Cleveland Davidson, now in their late 60s, had their convictions ruled unsafe by
the court in July. Johnson, who now lives in the US, was cleared by the court of appeal at a
hearing in London on Tuesday. Sir Julian Flaux, sitting with Lord Justice Dingemans and
Lady Justice Andrews, said it was “most unfortunate that it has taken nearly 50 years to
rectify the injustice suffered”. Another group who suffered a misscarriage of justice was The
Oval four. The Oval Four are four black men—Winston Trew, Sterling Christie, George
Griffiths and Constantine "Omar" Boucher—who were arrested by police at Oval tube station
in March 1972 supposedly on suspicion of stealing passengers' handbags. The four were
held overnight, and their trial eventually lasted five weeks. The CCRC has since uncovered
“a pattern of false evidence, perjury and violence” by Ridgewell and his squad. They would
falsely accuse young, black men of theft, beat them into signing confessions and then lie
under oath about how the confessions had been obtained. Additionally, the Birmingham Six
were a group of six Northern Irishmen who were each sentenced to life imprisonment after
being accused of the murder of 21 people in the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their
convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the Court of Appeal on
14 March 1991, after wrongfully spending 17 years in prison. In the case of Stefan Kiszuko
he was convicted of the murder of a young girl and had spent 16 years in prison before his
case was overturned. Finally, in the case of Sean Hodgson, one of the UK's longest serving
miscarriage of justice victims, he was convicted of murder after having confessed to the
crime but was a pathological liar so should not have been imprisoned. From examining these
cases above, I can conclude that miscarriages of justice can quite easily happen for a variety
of reasons. The first reason being police misconduct. Police misconduct can be seen in the
Birmingham Six case, where the police carried out a specific stop and search by a specialist
branch of the police. Due to this, the six had been assaulted by the police and deprived of
food and sleep whilst in custody. In the Stefan Kiszuo case the police had also failed during
interrogations by not allowing a solicitor to be present during the two days of questioning
which resulted in him confessing to the crime. These two cases support my conclusion about
police misconduct happening. Another reason that miscarriages of justice occur is because
of the mental health of the suspects. For example, in the case of Stephen Downing he had a
mental age of an 11 year old as well as severe learning difficulties so he would have had no
idea what was going on during his questioning without a solicitor. Additionally, Sean
Hodgson confessed to the murder of a woman despite being a pathological liar and this was
not considered in court at all, proving my conclusion that police misconduct can also be
extended to not considering the mental capacity and health of their suspects, often leading
to miscarriages of justice. Evidence can also play a huge part in miscarriages, for example in
the case of the Birmingham Six where the forensic evidence that was originally used to find
a positive result of handling explosives was overturned, with the judge saying that due to
fresh evidence the convictions were unsatisfactory and unsafe. Furthermore, DNA had also
appealed their guilty verdict and won their appeal. They are wrong convictions. Miscarriages
of justice occur more frequently than people may believe which I have picked up from a
number of case studies. The first case I have studied is the case of the Stockwell Six.
Courtney Harriot, Paul Green and Cleveland Davidson were part of a group of six young
Black men who later became known as the Stockwell Six. The men were charged with
assault with intent to rob a police officer in plain clothes on the London Underground in 1972
.The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates miscarriages of
justice, referred Johnson’s conviction for assault with intent to rob to the court of appeal after
judges cleared the names of three of his friends earlier this year. Courtney Harriot, Paul
Green and Cleveland Davidson, now in their late 60s, had their convictions ruled unsafe by
the court in July. Johnson, who now lives in the US, was cleared by the court of appeal at a
hearing in London on Tuesday. Sir Julian Flaux, sitting with Lord Justice Dingemans and
Lady Justice Andrews, said it was “most unfortunate that it has taken nearly 50 years to
rectify the injustice suffered”. Another group who suffered a misscarriage of justice was The
Oval four. The Oval Four are four black men—Winston Trew, Sterling Christie, George
Griffiths and Constantine "Omar" Boucher—who were arrested by police at Oval tube station
in March 1972 supposedly on suspicion of stealing passengers' handbags. The four were
held overnight, and their trial eventually lasted five weeks. The CCRC has since uncovered
“a pattern of false evidence, perjury and violence” by Ridgewell and his squad. They would
falsely accuse young, black men of theft, beat them into signing confessions and then lie
under oath about how the confessions had been obtained. Additionally, the Birmingham Six
were a group of six Northern Irishmen who were each sentenced to life imprisonment after
being accused of the murder of 21 people in the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their
convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the Court of Appeal on
14 March 1991, after wrongfully spending 17 years in prison. In the case of Stefan Kiszuko
he was convicted of the murder of a young girl and had spent 16 years in prison before his
case was overturned. Finally, in the case of Sean Hodgson, one of the UK's longest serving
miscarriage of justice victims, he was convicted of murder after having confessed to the
crime but was a pathological liar so should not have been imprisoned. From examining these
cases above, I can conclude that miscarriages of justice can quite easily happen for a variety
of reasons. The first reason being police misconduct. Police misconduct can be seen in the
Birmingham Six case, where the police carried out a specific stop and search by a specialist
branch of the police. Due to this, the six had been assaulted by the police and deprived of
food and sleep whilst in custody. In the Stefan Kiszuo case the police had also failed during
interrogations by not allowing a solicitor to be present during the two days of questioning
which resulted in him confessing to the crime. These two cases support my conclusion about
police misconduct happening. Another reason that miscarriages of justice occur is because
of the mental health of the suspects. For example, in the case of Stephen Downing he had a
mental age of an 11 year old as well as severe learning difficulties so he would have had no
idea what was going on during his questioning without a solicitor. Additionally, Sean
Hodgson confessed to the murder of a woman despite being a pathological liar and this was
not considered in court at all, proving my conclusion that police misconduct can also be
extended to not considering the mental capacity and health of their suspects, often leading
to miscarriages of justice. Evidence can also play a huge part in miscarriages, for example in
the case of the Birmingham Six where the forensic evidence that was originally used to find
a positive result of handling explosives was overturned, with the judge saying that due to
fresh evidence the convictions were unsatisfactory and unsafe. Furthermore, DNA had also
