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Safeguarding the Rights of Suspects in Police Custody
Abstract
Reporting findings from research on the impact of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), this paper assesses the effectiveness of rights provided for suspects in police custody which were intended to counterbalance increased police powers. It discusses (1) the involvement in the detention and questioning process of parents, social workers, and legal advisers; (2) the procedures which regulate the detention and questioning of suspects before charge; and (3) the effectiveness of sanctions and supervision. It concludes that these safeguards have had a significant, although variable, impact. Factors that have limited this impact are assessed. Claims that suspects’ rights are excessively hampering the detection of crime are criticized.
... Indeed, research has suggested that relatives of the accused are not always suitable to act as the appropriate adult. This is because they can adopt a 'passive and acquiescent' role in the police station, express 'hostility and distress' towards the child and put them under pressure to confess prior to the police interview (Brookman and Pierpoint, 2003;Bucke and Brown, 1997;Dixon et al., 1990;Gudjonsson, 1993;Hazel et al., 2002). ...
... She found that when voluntary workers were asked to attend at the police station as soon as possible, they had an average attendance time of 37 minutes (ranging from taking no time at all to 3 hours and 15 minutes). 19 If there are long delays while children and young people wait for an appropriate adult, then the thought of there being further delays could discourage them from requesting legal advice (Dixon et al., 1990). 20 The difficulties encountered with appropriate adults, particularly in relation to access to legal advice, have led some critics to argue for a tightening up of legal protections, including for some, introducing mandatory legal advice for juveniles detained in police stations (Kemp, 2010;Littlechild, 1998;Pierpoint, 2006;Sanders et al., 2010). ...
... Another possibility could be if the police tend to deal more sensitively with children and provide reassurances about what is likely to happen. Such reassurances could include their early release from custody, although as noted above, this could discourage young detainees from having legal advice if they believe that waiting for a solicitor could increase their time spent in custody (Dixon et al., 1990;Littlechild, 1998). As children are more likely to receive a pre-court disposal than be charged, this is another reassurance which the police could give to a child and their appropriate adult (Evans and Puech, 2001;Holdaway, 2003). ...
Informed by data extracted from 30,921 police electronic custody records, drawn from 44 police stations across four police force areas and including 5153 records of juveniles aged 10 to 17 years, this article examines the take-up of legal advice by children and young people in police stations in England and Wales. There are wide variations in the extent to which juveniles request and receive legal advice when compared to adults but also between juveniles of different ages. Such variations are explored both in relation to the age of detainees and the type and seriousness of offence and case disposal. Also examined are variations based on different police force areas. The implications emanating from children’s differential access to legal advice at police stations are considered in relation to children’s rights.
... 110 Behr (2003), S. 222 f. 111 Siehe CPT (2004), S. 81; vgl. auch Dixon et al. (1990), S. 135 f., die vor dem Hintergrund der hierarchischen Organisationsform auf die Bedeutung der Haltung der Polizei als Organisation zu solchen Themen und rechtlichen Regelungen verweisen. 112 Dazu Schicht (2006). ...
... Einen Einblick in diesen polizeilichen Alltag gibtBehr (2000), S. 222 ff. 66 Siehe auchDixon et al. (1990), S. 116. 67 Behr (2003 nennt in diesem Sinne Abgeschlossenheit, geschlossene Einheiten statusniedriger junger Männer, ambivalentes Arbeitsmilieu, Diskrepanz zwischen rechtlichen Regelungen und subkulturellen Gerechtigkeitsvorstellungen, fehlendes Verständnis gegenüber den Betroffenen und eine vermutete geringe Beschwerdemacht als Dispositionen für Übergriffe. ...
... For example, McConville and Morrell (1983) found that in Scotland many officers were routinely conducting interviews outside the police station. More recently, Dixon et al. (1990) found evidence that undermined the apparent success of audio taping. They argued that 'there is the possibility that officers will try to evade recording and other controls by questioning suspects away from the interview room (at home during a post-arrest search, in the car on the way to the station, in the cells) or in the interview room before tape recording starts'. ...
... The officer's task might then be to get the suspect to repeat relevant statements later in the formal taped interview. Dixon et al. (1990) gave one interesting example of such practices occurring entirely within the police station. In this case a suspect was taken to an interview room and asked a series of questions. ...
This paper discusses some of the apparent changes in interrogations following the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the introduction of tape recorders into police stations. These reforms are believed to have had several marked effects on interrogations. For example, the use of persuasive questioning is believed to have declined, as has the number of suspects making admissions. The evidence for these hypotheses is discussed. It is suggested that the apparent fall in confessions can be explained by methodological differences between studies and that the confession rate has in fact remained almost constant. Although there does appear to have been a change in the types of persuasive questioning employed during interrogations, it is difficult to establish whether or not the use of such questioning has declined. There is some evidence that persuasive questioning is now being carried out away from recording equipment.
... Whilst vulnerable individuals in custody have reported the importance of knowing their AA and thus being able to trust them, conflict about a family member or known person acting as their AA was also reported (Leggett et al., 2007). Other research has found that when parents enact the role of the AA, their contributions are consistent with punishment and assisting the police in obtaining a confession (Dixon et al., 1990). More recent work has highlighted the concerns of adults with a Learning Disability in custody relating to how much practical support a family member or carer could provide (Howard et al., 2015). ...
Vulnerable individuals are increasingly coming into custody. One safeguard implemented by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and Codes of Practice is the Appropriate Adult measure. However, little is known about how the Appropriate Adult constructs and understands their role and the implications this may have for the enactment of their role. The current study aimed to explore how Appropriate Adults and others experience and understand their role when working with vulnerable individuals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 Appropriate Adults and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Overall, two superordinate and six subordinate themes emerged from the data that highlighted the complex and confusing role of the Appropriate Adult. In addition, Appropriate Adults suggested that they may be less likely to perform their duties if faced with excessive conflict from others working in custody. The research raises implications regarding the understanding and utilisation of the Appropriate Adult role and for the treatment and outcome of the vulnerable adult in custody. That is, if the Appropriate Adult remains passive in their role, the vulnerable individual in custody is not being appropriately safeguarded and remains at risk of providing unreliable, self-incriminating information or even a false confession.
... Ook vormen "ongewenst politieel gedrag", "afwijkend gedrag", "politiegeweld" en "politiecorruptie" (zelfs de zwijgcode) in het kader van de studie van de politiecultuur belangrijke onderzoeksonderwerpen. Vernieuwende tendensen kunnen we waarnemen in het onderzoek gecoördineerd door Dixon (1990) in Australië, dat van Jobard (1994) in Frankrijk en Norée (2000) in Zweden. Enigszins verrassend te noemen, gezien de context, is het feit dat dergelijk onderzoek (occassioneel) tot stand voormalig Joegoslavië, in het bijzonder in Slovenië. ...
Zowat vijf jaar geleden hebben we het plan opgevat om een overzicht samen te stellen van het politieonderzoek dat tot stand kwam in Europa en in de Angelsaksische wereld. Als ik schrijf ‘we’, dan bedoel ik meer precies Lode Van Outrive (professor emeritus van de KULeuven en voormalig voorzitter van de Raad van Bestuur van het Centrum voor Politiestudies - CPS), Carrol Tange (doctorandus aan de Université Libre de Bruxelles en voormalig voorzitter van het Centre d’Études sur la Police – CEP) en mezelf (professor aan UGent en eveneens voormalig voorziter van de Raad van Bestuur van het Centrum voor Politiestudies - CPS). Met deze bijdrage willen deze ‘uittreders’ hulde brengen aan Lodewijk Gunther Moor, afscheid nemend directeur van de Stichting Samenleving, Maatschappij en Politie - SMVP.
Het boek is er intussen, en het is een kanjer geworden (Ponsaers, Tange & Van Outrive, 2009). Het lag in onze bedoeling een werkinstrument samen te stellen voor politieonderzoekers. Het boek moest bijdragen tot een beter begrip van hetgeen zich in de breedte ontwikkelde afgelopen 25 jaar onder de gemeenschappelijke noemer van ‘politieonderzoek’. Al te dikwijls staan taalbarrières dit begrip in de weg. De dominantie van de Angelsaksische wetenschappelijke wereld is immers opmerkelijk, en dit fenomeen is afgelopen jaren alsmaar toegenomen.
... This was a deliberate strategy, in a bid to shift the focus from police custody as a site of malpractice evident in earlier studies (e.g. Holdaway 1980, Sanders et al. 1989, Bridges and Sanders 1990, Dixon et al. 1990, Hodgson 1992. It was also a successful strategy. ...
Appreciative Inquiry is a methodology originating from organisational psychology, though it has since been used in criminal justice research including police studies. It is used to identify the actual and potential strengths of an individual or an institution, with a view to building on these strengths in the future. The primary purpose of this paper is to assess the value of Appreciative Inquiry for police research, where its use is potentially confounded by aspects of police culture. Drawing on an ESRC-funded study, the ‘good’ police custody study, we critically examine the role of Appreciative Inquiry in enabling access and data collection through appreciatively-informed interviews, examining this from the perspective of the police, the policed and police researchers. We also illustrate how Appreciative Inquiry contributed to the theorisation process and to the development of theoretically-informed recommendations and organisational reforms, matters that are neglected in other police and criminal justice research. We conclude that certain aspects of police culture hinder its use, for example, the cynicism of frontline police officers, whilst the storytelling features of police culture and growing collaboration between police and researchers help overcome these barriers. Appreciative Inquiry must still be used reflexively in police research, recognising for example the tendency towards naïve optimism and its impacts on vulnerable participants. Nonetheless, in light of Appreciative Inquiry dovetailing with growing expectations that the police and academics should work more closely together, there are grounds for appreciating Appreciative Inquiry as an important part of a diverse police research agenda in the future.
... This may be exacerbated because some may be "disorientated" by the setting, formality, etc. and so "too accommodating of police requests" (Brown et al., 1992cited in Pierpoint, 2000b Parents, as a category, present a further question: Whether they have or should have a right to be present, regardless of whether they are AA or not. Some commentators argue they should (Dixon et al., 1990;Littlechild, 1995aLittlechild, , 1996Pierpoint, 1999, 2000a, 2000bcited in Pierpoint, 2006. Interestingly, the police support this view; ...
This paper looks at the role of the ‘appropriate adult’ – a person who attends on a juvenile or adult with mental vulnerabilities during their time in police custody. Whilst almost universally recognised as “extremely important in protecting young people and vulnerable adults,” (Bradley, 2006, p.43) commentators remark that the role is “ambiguous and contradictory” (Pierpoint, 2006, p.231), “complex and onerous” (Medford et al., 2003, p.254), and identify many issues with the role’s description in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Codes of Practice.
The study on which this paper reports was exploratory and inductive; and reflects the “socially constructed” (Pierpoint, 2006, p.231) nature of the role. Through eleven in- depth, semi-structured interviews, some of those working as or with ‘appropriate adults’ provided data on which hypotheses and questions have been built.
Findings are in the form of tentative hypotheses, describing the role as impartial and independent of both police and juvenile suspect. It is suggested that the PACE 1984 Code of Practice, as it describes the role, is at once misrepresentative of the nature of the role and misguiding in terms of what it says appropriate adults should do. Issues with the categories of appropriate adult are identified, as are further opportunities for further research.
... This may be due to difficulties in finding a trained interpreter on short notice or because police interviewers prefer to have a second interviewer in the room. Unlike trained interpreters who are cognizant of their duty to remain impartial to both the interviewer and interviewee, untrained bilinguals and ad hoc interpreters in the community may misconstrue their role as one to assist the police with their investigation (Burke, Brown, & Britain, 1997;Dixon, Bottomley, Coleman, Gill, & Wall, 1990) or switch between roles of investigator and advocate for the suspect during the course of an interview (Berk-Seligson, 2002). Interpreter failure to maintain neutrality may compromise a police interview. ...
Purpose:
To identify best practice in interpreter use in suspect and intelligence interviews conducted by an international sample of experienced law enforcement practitioners in Asian Pacific jurisdictions (Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, South Korea and Sri Lanka).
Methods:
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 121 practitioners who
described their experiences with and perceptions of interpreter-mediated
interviews. Responses were transcribed and coded by trained research assistants, achieving a high degree of inter-rater reliability.
Findings:
The practitioners agreed that interpreters changed the interview dynamic,
and identified benefits and risks of interpreter use. The responses revealed misconceptions about interpreter codes of practice regarding neutrality. Major concerns were maintaining control of the interview, accuracy loss, maintenance of nonverbal communication, interview duration and fatigue. Strategies used to manage interviews were the selection of the interpreter, advance preparation regarding ground rules and content, and placement of the interpreter (behind/adjacent to the interviewee). The key to a successful interview was a skilled, experienced interpreter.
Research Limitations:
Although the purposive sample was not representative, data from multiple practitioners revealed commonalities across jurisdictions. Self-reports are subject to memory distortions and cannot be validated, thus future research in a controlled experiment is recommended.
Practical Implications:
Interviewer training is needed: (i) to familiarise interviewers with differences between trained, accredited interpreters and untrained bilinguals; and (ii) effective strategies to ensure accurate information, maintain nonverbal communication and the legal right of interviewees to a fair interview.
... Breaches of these provisions will not result automatically in the exclusion of evidence or the disciplining of officers but, where the accused contests her guilt, evidence may be challenged on these grounds. 9 There has been a large amount of critical empirical work evaluating the success and the limitations of the PACE model of regulation and, in particular, the excessively adversarial approach of the police on the one hand (Sanders and Bridges 1990;McConville et al. 1991); the absence of any overarching adversarial ideology on the part of legal advisers on the other (McConville and Hodgson 1993;McConville et al. 1994); and the lack of independent supervision during the investigation and detention phase (Dixon et al. 1990;McConville et al. 1991;Phillips and Brown 1998). 10 Whereas the French fear the adversarial excesses of safeguards such as custodial legal advice, in England and Wales the problem has been quite the reverse. ...
Drawing upon my own empirical research, this article examines the regulation of the detention and interrogation of suspects held in police custody in France - the ways in which the rights and interests of the suspect are protected and the reliability of evidence guaranteed. After considering the legal framework and the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights, the article describes the actual practices and roles of key legal personnel and the relationships between them; the nature of judicial supervision; the role of the defence; and the conduct of police interrogations. The article concludes that neither judicial supervision by the public prosecutor as actually exercised nor the recently expanded rights of the defence provide sufficient guarantees to safeguard either the interests of the suspect or the reliability of evidence. Although the outcome of the investigation is reviewed, the process is not. Despite the centrality of confession evidence in practice and the obvious vulnerability of those detained, the police detention of suspects continues to be regarded in procedural terms as a preliminary (and, therefore, less important) investigation, with the result that the suspect is afforded fewer safeguards when interrogated by the police than when questioned by a judge.
The main purpose of this article is to evaluate the existing law and practice regarding the right of a suspect of access to a legal assistance in England & Wales. the study analyses this conferred right by taking a procedural approach to assess whether the English criminal justice system is in line with European human rights guarantees in criminal proceedings , particularly the European Convention on Human Rights, to which the United Kingdom is a state party. the current study focuses on the right of access to a legal assistance, and doctrinal legal research was adopted in the conduct of this research, and both primary and secondary data sources were assessed. The paper critically analyses the relevant legal rules, case law as well as looking at other European jurisdictions and intentional human rights norm, with special reference to the jurisprudence of European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in order to the right in criminal justice system in England & Wales can be critically analysed. The key findings unearthed by the current study are that even with the many welcome identified guarantees that have been made to respect the right of a suspect to have a legal assistance in England & Wales, however, it remains clear that the English criminal justice system is still under considerable shortage , which need further suggested reforms to be made. The study found certain weaknesses between the law and working practice. The present study concludes that further reform is required in order to ensure implementing the rule of law during every day working practice.
Drawing upon in-depth interviews with frontline police officers, this article examines persuasion and education as a psychological interrogation method routinely applied in Chinese police questioning. It analyses the three tactics employed by the interrogators in inducing the suspect to confess, including utilization of suspects’ personal relationships, their hope for the uncertain future and memories of past experiences. These mechanisms correspond to the three forms of universal vulnerability shared by human beings, namely the individuals’ susceptibility to human dependency, the predicament of irreversibility and uncertainty about the future. This article analyses the ways in which vulnerability as a universal human condition can be exploited by state coercion, and how this coercion produces the moral vulnerability of police.
This article appraises the cumulative effects of the curtailment of the right of silence after 20 years. A controversial measure when enacted, its long-term effects have not been examined. It is argued that the Act was introduced on a flawed premise; has been interpreted very broadly; and has facilitated further restrictions on due process rights. Drawing upon the case law, academic commentary and empirical research, it is argued that the provisions have compromised the lawyer–client relationship and undermined the effectiveness of legal representation. Not only have the provisions made police interviews part of the trial (as Jackson argues), but they have also imported to the courtroom traditional police suspicions of defendants and their lawyers. The court has accordingly interpreted the provisions to the detriment of another ‘fundamental condition’; legal professional privilege. The changes have thus had a wider impact than was envisaged at the time.
One of the current and visible controversies in UK policing that challenges the heart and foundation of the principle of law is arguably the apparent disproportionate use of stop and search powers involving ethnic minority communities. Prior research found that differential exposure by the police to certain types of suspected offenders led to the development of cognitive scripts that operate as stereotypes and which may play a role in informing suspicions concerning police stops and searches. Focusing on whether police officers use negative stereotypes to inform suspicions when conducting stops and searches, this study examined more than 2,100 stop and search records held by a police force in England, in addition to conducting 20 semi-structured interviews with frontline serving police officers from the same force. It was found that the use of stop and search powers is consistent with: (a) the use of stereotypes with respect to age, appearance, and social class; and (b) the disproportionate recorded use of stop and search powers involving Black, Asian and Mixed communities. The implications of these findings are discussed.
During the late 1970s widespread anxieties about economic, social, cultural and moral change in British society came to be crystallised into one primary symbol: ‘law and order’. The image of a society in the grip of muggers, hooligans, terrorists, violent pickets, and other folk-devils condensed and made concrete pervasive yet vaguer fears of national decline. (The definitive analysis of this remains Hall et al., 1978, for all its flaws; cf. Sumner, 1981; Waddington, 1986). It is true that such ‘respectable fears’ have a long history, and appear to be a perennial feature of modern societies (Pearson, 1983). However, this does not mean that there are not times when they become peculiarly intense, and indeed may have a rational basis (Reiner, 1986, 1990a).
This book is the audit of political freedom in the United Kingdom-that is, of the political rights and freedoms which are constitutive of representative democracy, and which contribute directly to realising the Audit's two basic goals. Appendix 1 describes the Democratic Audit's aims more fully and sets out the 30 'democratic criteria' which the Democratic Audit has drawn from the two goals of popular control and political equality. Five of these criteria (DCs 19-23) provide the broad background against which the authors, along with their contributors, evaluate the quality of political freedoms, how well they are protected and how readily citizens can secure them in the United Kingdom. © 1996 The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. All rights reserved.
The right to legal advice in the police station is currently at a cross-road, in view of the pending review of legal aid announced on May 20,2010. Drawing on data from a recent mixed-method study conducted in 2007, as well as previous research, this paper re-examines the kinds of factors, past and present, that affect access to legal advice, including suspect characteristics, such as ethnicity and age, suspects subjective and complex perceptions about the length of their detention, the seriousness of the offence and their self-defined innocence and guilt, as well as police practices such as informal conversations and the availability of legal advisers and suspect experiences of them. More importantly, though, the paper looks at the implications of these findings for the future, providing some suggestions as to how legal advice in the police station might be improved. The subjective and contingent nature of suspect decision-making implies that choice, but also privacy, should be central to discussions about future reform. One such choice that should be made available to suspects in the future is about access to face-to-face legal advice, even if this is provided "virtually" through existing video links used to connect police stations with the courts.
In a recent statistical analysis of police custody records we found variations between police stations both in the take-up of legal advice and also in the average length of time people were held in custody. To further explore unobserved factors which might impact on such variations a qualitative study has been undertaken of four large police stations. While there were found to be factors in common between police stations which related to delays, there were other factors which were specific to one or two stations only. There were also found to be implications for delays creating potential barriers to legal advice. Such factors raise questions about the extent to which PACE continues to provide sufficient legal safeguards for those held in police custody.
Police custody acts as an important gateway to the criminal justice process. Much is at stake here for both staff and suspects as what happens in police custody can have important consequences further down the line. This book offers a timely contribution to research on police custody, which has been largely neglected for the last decade, and it is the first to examine the growing role given to civilians employed by the police or by private security companies within police custody areas.
'Criminal Justice in China is the most comprehensive work to date on the functioning of China's criminal justice system. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand any aspect of the system. There are important insights on virtually every page, including in depth study of the role of police, procuracy, courts, and defense lawyers. The book will be of value to anyone interested in governance in China.'
McConville, Sanders and Leng (1991) have argued that the police play the dominant role in a process that constructs the suspect population and produces prosecution cases. Whereas the public rhetoric of the law proclaims ideals of fairness and equality, the process of case construction is driven by the values of crime control. By contrast, this article shows that the criminal justice system can neither be understood nor justified except by reference to the goal of crime control, and that the values of crime control and due process are closely intertwined. Policing cannot be understood as having the function of producing convictions: it evidently has much wider goals. It follows from the essential functions of the police that they tend to be beyond the direct control of the law; the challenge for social science is to understand why rules and values relating to due process influence the police in some circumstances and not in others.
This paper discusses the recommendations of the Carloway Review, which was established to review law and practice in criminal cases following the introduction in Scotland of a right to legal assistance during detention. A number of recommendations are made in the Review, including the introduction of stricter time limits governing the detention of suspects, the removal of the corroboration requirement, the rejection of adverse inference provisions, and a change in the manner in which the appeal court deals with cases referred to it by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. It is argued that while some of these recommendations are to be applauded, others are poorly reasoned and some may lead to a dangerous reduction in protection against wrongful conviction.
The Youth Criminal Justice Act views parents as playing a critical role in both preventing and addressing youths' criminal behaviour. However, the lack of specifically defined goals for parental involvement, in combination with potentially conflicting messages regarding parents' roles, may result in confusion for parents, youth, and those who work in the system, confusion that may, in turn, reduce the efficacy of parents' involvement. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with justice system officials (N = 41) who work with parents and young people, supplemented by direct courtroom observation of parents, we explored the reality behind the rhetoric of parental involvement. Results indicated that, despite the fact that parental involvement can have an important impact on legal outcomes for young people, and while there may be some improvement in parental involvement post-arrest under the YCJA, parents are often not involved in ways that are seen as effective and meaningful. Two kinds of conflict are seen as contributing significantly to the gap between policy and practice: interpersonal conflict between youth and their parents and conflict between the two roles that parents are expected to play - simultaneously socializing youth and promoting their legal interests in an adversarial system. Recommendations for addressing the barriers to effective parental involvement are discussed.
The definition of the role of the ‘appropriate adult’ for young suspects in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Code of Practice C is ambiguous and contradictory. This article argues that the role has been socially constructed by the legislator, the courts, young people, the police and appropriate adults themselves. Following various recommendations to use volunteers as appropriate adults, this article revisits the nature of the role in light of a case study of a volunteer appropriate adult service. The results demonstrate that, in terms of volunteer practice, the role has been constructed to include elements of due process, welfare and crime prevention, but has to operate within the constraints of crime control and managerialism. Hence, this article concludes that the role of the appropriate adult should be reconstructed building on the volunteers’ welfare tendencies and that, although a number of cultural and practical obstacles would have to be overcome, he or she should be joined by a mandatory legal adviser to ensure that due process is respected.
The recent consultation exercise, used to review the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, highlighted that that the detention clock (used to detain suspects without charge) does not allow the police sufficient time to conduct their investigation, especially in complex cases. In this review it was suggested that the detention clock — which normally allows detention without charge for 24, 36 or in exceptional circumstances 72 hours — should be stopped if suspects are unfit due to intoxication or they require a period of rest or to allow legal advisers, health professionals, interpreters and others time to arrive at the police station. Drawing on data collected from two sites — one public, one private — this article quantitatively and qualitatively explores the factors affecting the length of detention in police custody. I argue that there is insufficient evidence to introduce a stop-clock system and that the increase in the length of detention to pre-PACE levels suggests that it may not have struck the intended balance between suspects’ rights and police powers.
This article examines the evolution and manifestation of the Social Disciplinary model of policing in Singapore, a model which eschews concern for both legal and factual guilt, concentrating instead on the task of subjugating sections of society who are viewed as 'anti-police'. We argue that understanding the experiences of minority gang members as recipients of such policing has to be set in the context of the symbiotic relationship that exists between the police and institutionalized secret societies, which has been responsible for the reproduction of social order in the criminal underworld. Street corner gangs comprising lower class ethnic minority Indians are considered by the police as a 'problem population' because of their potential to upset the symbiotic relationship. A consequence of this form of policing is that minority gangs occupy a marginal status in the illegitimate society and exhibit characteristics akin to a 'retreatist' gang.
This paper outlines the findings of an analysis of 161 audio-taped police interviews with suspects detained at two London police stations. In particular it examines the extent to which suspects exercise their right to silence, the role of the solicitor within the interview and whether or not a confession was made. A legal adviser was present in 56% of the cases, the highest recorded figure to date. Qualified solicitors accounted for 24% of this figure with legal representatives making up the remaining 32%. Whilst the majority of suspects chose to answer all police questions highly significant relationships were found between the presence of a legal adviser and (1) a suspect's decision to exercise the right to silence and (2) a suspect's decision not to confess. A confession or admission was made in 58% of the cases. The finding that the number of confessions made in interview has remained relatively stable over the last decade (despite an increase in legal advice and a decrease in manipulative police tactics) is discussed. This study encountered considerable difficulty in determining the actual status of the legal adviser.
This article examines the ambiguous role of the ‘appropriate adult’ within the criminal justice system and questions whether it actually represents a safeguard that protects vulnerable suspects. The paper will focus on the many problems associated with carrying out the role in accordance with current guidelines in relation to both juvenile and mentally vulnerable adult suspects. The main problems include the vagueness of the role, the lack of identification, and the absence of any formal system to implement the safeguard, together with crucial difficulties in relation to issues of confidentiality and independence.
Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Codes of Practice, an ‘appropriate adult’ should accompany a juvenile suspect at the police station in England and Wales, and similar roles exist elsewhere. In the past, there have been various recommendations to use volunteers as appropriate adults or in comparable roles. One of the reasons for this is that it was considered that their use would enhance the availability of appropriate adults and reduce the delays in securing their attendance. Dealing with young suspects expeditiously and detaining them for the shortest time possible is an issue of universal concern, not least because it is the subject of international law. This article explores the extent of delays in obtaining appropriate adults and the reasons behind them. It presents the results of a case study of a volunteer appropriate adult service which found that just over half of volunteers were contacted within two hours of the young suspect's arrest and that they then tended to arrive within the two hours required in England and Wales. The article concludes with a number of recommendations for minimising delays.
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 introduced a new system of safeguards governing police powers and procedures in England and Wales. Though it was the subject of vociferous criticism at the time, and critics continue to scrutinise its limitations, the Act is now widely accepted as representing a significant step forward in relation to the rights of people detained in police stations. What is less well known is how domestic practices compare with the situation in other countries. Based on evidence collected by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, this article compares the treatment of people in custody in police stations in England with the situation in other parts of Europe.
Drawing on empirical research into audio-visually recorded interrogation in New South Wales, this article comments on the implications for criminal justice in jurisdictions facing problems and controversies in the questioning of suspects. It considers whether the various benefits and harms that were predicted to flow from audio-visual recording have eventuated, focusing on two issues: the interpretation of images and unrecorded questioning. Its conclusion is that audio-visual recording offers significant benefits to criminal justice, but is no panacea (and can even be counterproductive if treated as such). Audio-visual recording has to be part of a comprehensive regulatory regime; this article concludes by arguing for a renewed commitment to the legal regulation of policing.
The ‘appropriate adult’ is intended to safeguard the interests of the vulnerable suspect. Social workers' performance of this role has received extensive castigation. However, forthcoming changes in social work regulation and possibly training and the introduction of volunteers to the role could be used to improve the protection of vulnerable suspects' rights. This article suggests that whether social workers or volunteers fill the role, they will need to be put through their paces on rigorous training programmes to ensure that vulnerable suspects are protected as envisaged by the PACE Codes of Practice. Whether, however, these opportunities will be seized is yet to be seen. Moreover, further reforms of the appropriate adult system may be required, some of which are considered in this article.
The ‘appropriate adult’ has received relatively little attention from academics and even less from policymakers. That said, when the United Kingdom's Labour government was displaced in 2010, it had just completed, in March 2010, a three-year review of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), which included proposals for extending, professionalising and further reviewing the appropriate adult scheme. Under the new coalition government, the review of the provision of appropriate adults is continuing. It is, therefore, timely to assess the merits of the existing proposals and consider which further issues should be taken into account by the ongoing review. This article makes this assessment with reference to the existing literature, including the previously unpublished results of a survey of professional appropriate adults and their coordinators. The article argues that a number of appropriate adults support the extension and professionalisation of the role and, in practice, have already extended their role, in a manner akin to Marx's (1988) concept of ‘creep’. However, the main priority for the new government should be to clarify the definition of the role.
The ‘appropriate adult’ is intended to safeguard the interests of the young suspect in the police interview. This article discusses the criticisms of social workers' and parents' performance of the role and then considers the findings from a survey that explores volunteers' performance. The findings suggest that, when the volunteers surveyed contributed in the interview, they fulfilled the role as intended. This article also examines the implications of employing the survey method as a means of data collection in this field. The author concludes that further research is required in order for the survey findings to be considered conclusive and generalisable and suggests two further methods.
This article undertakes a brief review of research concerning the frequency and the quality of legal advice provided in police stations in England and Wales. In particular it examines the various definitions and actual nature of the role of the legal adviser. Studies indicate that the presence of legal advisers has increased since the introduction of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), although a number of studies have experienced difficulty in determining the actual status of advisers. Many legal advisers are not qualified solicitors and their ability to advise their clients has been called into question. The finding that many advisers adopt a passive or compliant role is discussed in relation to the inflexible definition of their role under PACE which, it is argued, fails to reflect the welfare and emotional needs of the client. The question of ‘fitness for interview’, which psychiatrists and forensic medical examiners are increasingly being asked to decide, is used as an example of the additional demands made on legal advisers that are not reflected under PACE. It is recommended that the definition of the role of the legal adviser under PACE is amended to reflect these demands. Copyright © 1996 Whurr Publishers Ltd.
There have been major changes in English Law with regard to confession evidence, which followed the implementation of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) in January 1986. This paper reviews the main legal changes that are relevant to the admissibility and reliability of confessions and their psychological importance within the context of both research and expert testimony.
Although the rules governing police interviews with suspects in custody have been well regulated since the introduction of
the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, concern has been expressed over
the years about the vulnerable position of young suspects within the PACE regime and about the adequacy of the safeguards
provided. This paper discusses the nature of police interviews with young people in Northern Ireland, drawing on the findings
of a recent research project. The paper focuses particularly on the roles of the various participants (the interviewing officer(s),
the appropriate adult and the solicitor) within the dynamics of advising young persons before and during the police interview
and calls for a reconstruction of the role of the appropriate adult.
Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), the freedom enjoyed by the police to detain suspects in custody and to question them in order to obtain incriminating admissions, is made subject to the mandatory duty of the court to exclude any confession that was or may have been obtained by oppression or as a result of conduct likely to render the confession unreliable. The courts are assisted in this duty by the requirement for custodial interviews to be contemporaneously recorded either by verbatim notes or by audio tape.
The requirement to make contemporaneous records appears to have been designed ‘to prevent the police from fabricating confessions or damaging statements [and] to prevent those who have in fact made admissions subsequently retracting them’. Backed by the statute, this requirement is more stringent than that provided for under the old Judges’ Rules.
In this article I use the findings of an ethnographic study of police station procedures to explore the limitations of Packer's Crime Control and Due Process models of justice. Concentrating on the dynamics of police-detainee interaction in the significant minority of cases in which the police arrest individuals whom they have no intention of charging, I show that in such cases policing is not geared towards enforcement of the criminal law but towards the achievement of police-defined objectives. I argue that Packer's models are both legal models, and thus inadequate to the task of explaining what takes place in these cases. I present the argument that these cases are better explained by reference to a Social Disciplinary model of policing. This is a model which eschews concern for both legal and factual guilt, concentrating instead on the task of subordinating sections of society viewed as anti-police and innately criminal.
Although not quite matching the vision of George Orwell, the year 1984 saw a powerful government, intent on law and order, promote the powers of the State at the expense of the civil liberties of the individual. The vehicle for this political measure was the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE), and the four ancillary Codes of Practice, which together form a comprehensive and controversial catalogue of police powers and obligations.
This article examines the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and its implications for Local Authority social workers and the roles they are now asked to take on. In particular the article focusses on the police detention and questioning of ‘vulnerable’ suspects like juveniles and mentally disordered people and the role of the social worker as ‘appropriate adult’. The importance of the social work role in this part of the criminal justice system is emphasised, together with a survey of the available literature to inform it and the difficulties experienced in practice.
The article presents findings from a preliminary study of the effects of the implementation of Parts IV and V of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. These cover the detention, questioning and treatment of arrested persons held in custody in police stations. The areas discussed include the time people are held in detention and their access to legal advice. Attention is also given to resource implications for the police and to possible effects on detection rates. It is suggested that the new procedures regulating custody may cause some problems for the police, but that this is a price worth paying, both to offset new powers acquired by the police outside the station, and to minimise the risk of abuse of coercive powers within the station.
The Barclay Report advocates a closer working partnership between social workers and citizens; various policing policies are based on similar foundations. Government policies place considerable emphasis on inter-agency work involving the police and the social services. In this paper, it is argued that co-operative inter-agency work seems feasible between managers in the social services and in the police. When the perspectives of fieldworkers in both services are considered conflict and suspicion seems to prevail. It is argued that once some of the myths surrounding the practice of police and social work are pared away, a new basis for the appreciation and development of inter-agency work may be apparent.
Police interrogation: the effects of PACE
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Consent and the legal regulation of policing. Paper presented at the Australian Law and Society Conference
- D Dixon
Dixon, D. et al. (1989c) Consent and the legal regulation of policing. Paper presented at the Australian Law and Society Conference, La Trobe University, December 1989.
Interviewing persons with mental handicap Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary for 1986
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Detention at the police station under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act Home Office Research Study 104 Presentation at ESRC/Police Foundation conference Code of Practice for the detention, treatment and questioning of persons by police officers
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Behind the front counter: lay visitors to police stations. Bath, Bristol and Bath Centre for Criminal Justice Survey of legal aid provision Advising a suspect in the police station
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Detention or voluntary attendance. Edinburgh, Scottish Office Research Study. DHSS (1985) PACE—implications for children and young persons
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The abolition of the right of silence in the United Kingdom
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Police and social work relations
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Paper presented to ESRC/Police Foundation conference on PACE
- I Mckenzie
McKenzie, I. (1989) Paper presented to ESRC/Police Foundation conference on PACE, Bristol, April 1989.
Police and people in London: the PSI Report The police and social workers The Confait confessions
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Processes and safeguards for 'vulnerable persons'. Paper presented to ESRC/Police Foundation conference on PACE
- H Giller
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Interrogation and the right of silence. Paper presented to ESRC/Police Foundation conferences on PACE
- B Irving
Irving, B. (1989) Interrogation and the right of silence. Paper presented to ESRC/Police Foundation conferences on PACE. Manchester and Newcastle, April/May 1989.
Inside the British police
- S Holdaway
Holdaway, S. (1983) Inside the British police. Oxford, Blackwell.
To be or not to be an 'appropriate adult'. Community Care
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Kay, N and Quao, S. (1987) To be or not to be an 'appropriate adult'. Community Care. July, 20-2.
Advice and Assistance at police stations and the 24 hour duty solicitor scheme
- A Sanders
Sanders, A. et al. (1989) Advice and Assistance at police stations and the 24 hour duty solicitor scheme.
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984: reported cases relevant to treatment of detained suspects
- D Feldman
Feldman, D. (1988) Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984: reported cases relevant to treatment of detained suspects. Unpublished paper, Faculty of Law, Australian National University.
Paper presented to conference on PACE, Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice
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Hurd, D. (1987) Lecture to the Police Foundation. London, July.
Police interviewing of the mentally handicapped. London, Police Foundation. Working Group (1989) Report of the Working Group on the Right of Silence. London, Home Office
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Presentation at ESRC/Police Foundation conference
- I Bynoe
Detention in the police station. Paper presented to ESRC/Police Foundation conferences on PACE
- R Morgan
The right of silence: politics and research
- D Dixon
Processes and safeguards for ‘vulnerable persons
- H Giller
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Department of Health and Social Security circular LAC
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