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Triage: The Application Screening Process

This chapter examines how the Criminal Cases Review Commission makes sense of approximately 1,400 applications it receives each year, focusing on the mechanisms that are in place for stage one of decision-making — that is, cases are screened in or out of the process. Drawing on Keith Hawkins' theoretical framework of ‘surround’, ‘field’ and ‘frame’, it considers how the Commission screens out applications early through a ‘triage’ process. The chapter first describes the four types of applications received by the Commission before discussing individual commissioners' decision frames, the new screening policy that has been introduced at stage one decision-making, and decision frames in relation to the surround and field. It also analyses the Commission's approach to guilty pleas, the impact of legal representation on stage one decisions, and drivers of stage one decision-making. It shows that the Commission, in practice, uses ‘triggers’ as shortcuts to help guide decision-making at stage one.