Try to appeal
We will almost certainly turn you down if you have not already appealed. Even if your legal team cannot think of any grounds for appeal, you can still appeal alone if you believe you have a good enough reason. Take a look at the Appealing from a Magistrates’ Court or Appealing from a Crown Court links on this page.
Your lawyers will have to tell you that if you get to the Court of Appeal and lose, the Court could say that some of the time you spent in jail waiting for your appeal hearing does not count against your sentence. The chances of this are very small, and the Court will only do it if they think you are deliberately wasting their time, so don’t be put off.
Check that you have been convicted of a criminal offence
It sounds obvious, but sometimes it’s hard for a non-lawyer to tell what is an offence and what is not. Breaches of court orders are not usually offences, for example, nor is failing to pay a debt. We cannot deal with things that happen in County Courts or Family Courts, Courts Martial or tribunals.
Check that the court was in our jurisdiction
We can only deal with convictions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There is a separate Scottish CCRC (new window). Convictions in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man can only be considered by the Home Office (new window)
Complete our Application Form
You can e-mail us, phone us or write to us for a form. You can download one, fill it in on your computer and send it back to us. There is no time limit, but the original paperwork is not kept forever: sometimes cases are just too old for us to be able to find out what happened. Get as much of your own paperwork as you can. The file at your solicitors’ office belongs to you, and they will be happy to hand it over (but they will need to keep it until they have been paid, either by you or by the Legal Services Commission).
|
