A view from the bar table: legal practitioners’ perspectives on the second or subsequent appeal in Victoria

This article unveils the findings of an exploratory study into legal practitioners’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the second or subsequent appeal introduced in Victoria in 2019 as a new post-conviction review mechanism. Through qualitative interviews with lawyers with direct experience of the second or subsequent appeal processes, we gathered important insights into not only the efficacy of these provisions, but the broader capacity of the Victorian criminal justice system to correct its own errors. Our findings reveal that the reforms were viewed as a marked improvement on the opacity of the petition for mercy, but also highlight systemic barriers that remain for convicted persons seeking to challenge their conviction. There also emerges a perhaps contradictory overall level of trust in the legal system’s capacity to prevent errors in the first place.