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168 Values and Civil and Political Liberties functions. In case I have been misunderstood, let me emphasise that because all Governments are, and will be, at fault, I am not arguing that reforms are unnecessary or that administrations be not criticised. But criticism should not be partisan, with silence about the peccadilloes of predecessor Governments, especially when these remain relevant. Criticism for governmental insistence upon confidentiality, with references confined to the Spycatcher litigation and the Ponting and Tisdall cases, is equally applicable to an earlier Government which commenced the Crossman Diaries litigation (concerning confidentiality by Ministers, but which raised the same legal issues), instituted criminal proceedings against Messrs. Aubrey, Berry and Campbell under the Official Secrets Act and ordered the deportation of Messrs. Agee and Hosenball. The demands for initiatives to protect official confidentiality and national security began with those actions. 40 Equally there needs to be understanding that national security and confidentiality are sometimes necessary to enable governments to function. The problem is that persons who invariably give priority to civil liberty except in war, and perhaps even then too, and persons who automatically give priority to security, can never agree on the balance to be struck or the facts and issues involved, except to differ. Taken overall, I believe that measures in the sphere of criminal procedure are improvements. Clarification of police powers in relation to pre-arrest procedures, especially taking in people to "assist with inquiries," has long been desirable. The pity is that lack of clarity remains, despite the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which will within a decade require major amendment and further checks on police powers. Codes of Practice operated in conjunction with the Act, but without mandatory sanctions of inadmissibility in the event of non-observance, raise questions as to whether
An Evaluation of Governments' Records 169 the best way has been adopted to ensure police fairness to suspected persons. As now drafted, the Codes do not cover all police dealings with suspects. Only subsequent empirical evaluation will show the effectiveness of the Act in guaranteeing fairness. Whatever the ultimate law, continuing scrutiny of the exercise of police powers will remain essential, human frailty being ever present. Indeed, police powers must never be strongly presupposed to have been properly exercised. Instead, any presumption of regular usage should be easily displaceable. Plans for better training of police, especially in handling the public, may help. Nonetheless, even now certain reforms are obviously needed to discourage police abuse of suspects. Adoption in England and Wales of the Scots evidential rules excluding unlawfully obtained evidence and requiring corroboration of confessions is long overdue. 41 When tape-recording of all interviews with suspects is in operation, untaped evidence should become inadmissible, something not so far stipulated. An alternative mode of reform, introduced by the United Kingdom in some of her colonies, would be to require that confessions must be made" in front of a magistrate. Despite its cost in police and Justices' time such a reform would preclude most allegations of police brutality, although then some suspects would still allege that they had been threatened beforehand or risked subsequent assault. In contrast, suspected terrorists will, until reliance on political methods of change replaces terrorism, have to continue subject to enhanced police powers of detention and questioning under the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1989. How that Act and its operation is viewed of course depends upon the supporter's or critic's assessment of danger to society and risks of loss of civil liberties. 42 These are matters on which persons concerned to preserve freedom can reasonably disagree.
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THE AMLY LECTURES Forty-second seri
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THE HAMLYN LECTURES FORTY-SECOND SE
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THE UNITED KINGDOM AND HUMAN RIGHTS
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CONTENTS The Hamlyn Lectures vii Th
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viii The Hamlyn Lectures 1959 Judge
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x The Hamlyn Lectures 1985 Law and
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xii The Hamlyn Trust London, Leeds,
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xiv The Hamlyn Legacy Torquay. Will
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xvi The Hamlyn Legacy grandfather.
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xviii The Hamlyn Legacy realising a
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xx The Hamlyn Legacy and imaginativ
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2 The United Kingdom and Human Righ
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10 The United Kingdom and Human Rig
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2. Human Rights, Values, Choice and
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52 Human Rights, Values and Choice
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3. Constitutions, Values and Civil
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108 Values and Civil and Political
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218 People and Education for Human
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234 Education—cont. National Curr
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236 Relativism—cont. descriptive,
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Protection of the Public— A New C
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