The Spectator

How many criminal convictions are overturned? 

[iStock] 
issue 13 January 2024

Power play

The former energy minister Chris Skidmore resigned in protest at a bill to issue more licences for oil and gas extraction in the North Sea. What are other countries doing?

– US oil production hit a record 13.3m barrels a day last month, up from 10.8m five years ago.

– Qatar is investing $150 billion to
increase oil production by 50% to 5m barrels per day by 2027.

– Brazil plans to increase oil production from 3.1m barrels per day in 2022 to
5.4m barrels per day by 2029.

– Canada increased oil production by 375,000 barrels per day between 2021 and last year.

Judgment call

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has called the Post Office scandal the ‘most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history’. How many criminal convictions are overturned?

– In 2022/23 the CCRC received 1,424 applications for criminal convictions to be reviewed, 70% of which were from prisoners currently serving sentences.

1,275 cases were completed.

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