Overturning Wrongful Convictions by Way of the Extraordinary Review

Résumé

According to the traditional view, the ultimate aim of the extraordinary review (recurso de revisión) provided in theSpanish justice system was to deal with wrongful criminalconvictions and correct those serious miscarriages of justicewhich became apparent only after the judgment hadbecome final. However, the 2015 reform called this traditional view into question by formally including two additional grounds for review that are not necessarily related to thecorrecting miscarriages or blatant mistakes in the assessmentof the facts made by the sentencing court. This paper aimsto give an overview of the extraordinary review in Spain. Tothat end it will first address the legal framework and itspractical implementation, as well as present pitfalls and bestpractices. Finally, future trends and challenges will be identified in order to improve the protection of defendants whohave suffered a wrongful conviction.