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From 1995 to 1 July 2020, when the Criminal Cases Review Commission Act 2019 came into force, 173 applications for the Royal prerogative of mercy were made. 19 of the applications led to a referral back to the relevant appeal court.

In the 10 years before the establishment of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, 5 cases were referred back to the Court of Appeal. Three of the subsequent appeals were successful and the other two were, [as at 1 October 2023], waiting to be heard by the Court of Appeal. 

Sir Thomas Thorp was given access by the Ministry of Justice to Royal prerogative of mercy files for applications received between 1995 and 2002. Of these, 53 files that had been evaluated and determined were available for analysis. 7 resulted in a reference to the relevant appeal court under section 406, Crimes Act 1961, the terms of an existing reference were widened in one case, and a Ministerial inquiry was held in another. No pardons were granted, and the remainder of the applications were declined.

At the time of Sir Thomas Thorp’s study, the Ministry did not routinely collect information about the applicants’ ethnicity. However, Sir Thomas obtained details of ethnicity from 46 of the 53 files he examined, generally from charging documents and police record sheets. The ethnic breakdown of those 46 files was: 

 Māori 9% Pacific Islanders 2%

There are no factors to suggest that Māori and Pacific Islanders are less likely to be affected by miscarriages of justice than other inmates. If anything, the likelihood is the other way, as Māori and Pacific Islanders are less likely to be able to pay for the best legal advice and more likely to have difficulty instructing and communicating with counsel. (Thorp, 2005).