According to the traditional view, the ultimate aim of the extraordinary review (recurso de revisión) provided in the Spanish justice system was to deal with wrongful criminal convictions and correct those serious miscarriages of justice which became apparent only after the judgment had become 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 the correcting miscarriages or blatant mistakes in the assessment of the facts made by the sentencing court. This paper aims to give an overview of the extraordinary review in Spain. To that end it will first address the legal framework and its practical implementation, as well as present pitfalls and best practices. Finally, future trends and challenges will be identified in order to improve the protection of defendants who have suffered a wrongful conviction.

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doi.org/10.5553/ELR.000186, hdl.handle.net/1765/135559
Erasmus Law Review
Erasmus Law Review
Erasmus School of Law

Bachmaier Winter, L., & Martínez Santos, A. (2021). Overturning Wrongful Convictions by Wayof the Extraordinary Review. Erasmus Law Review, 13(4), 55–62. doi:10.5553/ELR.000186