19 May 2015

Panel to investigate miscarriages of justice

2:46 pm on 19 May 2015

A high-powered group of lawyers and academics is launching a panel to investigate potential miscarriages of justice.

judge's gavel

Photo: 123RF

The organisers say the Government has ignored repeated calls for such a group to be established so they have set up a charitable trust to do the work instead.

Canterbury University Law School head Professor Chris Gallavin said the panel, called the Public Interest Project, would look at both criminal and civil cases, based on their merit.

"Is there actually a ground of a claim or is there actually a case there, and is there a point where either legally on in the evidence something has gone wrong or say with a civil case they're unable to get it off the ground because nobody's interested in taking it on."

Mr Gallavin said forms would be available on the project's website for people to give information about cases they wanted the group to take a fresh look at.

He said they would also be seeking donations to help fund the work.

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