Interrogations-and-Confessions-Handbook

CHAPTER 10
The English Law on Confessions
When assessing a case of retracted or disputed confession the clinical psychologist
needs to be familiar with the relevant law, legal procedures and practice,
and know what protection there is in law for suspects with mental problems.
The reason is twofold. First, without some basic understanding of the legal issues
the assessment may not cover the crucial areas of concern. For example,
certain safeguards are provided for mentally ill persons and those suffering
from learning disability, and without knowing what these are the expert witness
may fail to assess the relevant disabilities or psychological vulnerabilities.
Secondly, the expert witness’s findings have to be placed in the context of the
relevant legal questions. For example, what is the relevance of the psychological
findings for the court’s evaluation in relation to such terms as ‘coercion’,
‘voluntariness’, ‘oppression’, ‘reliability’ and ‘fairness’? Of central importance is
an understanding of the suspects’ legal rights during custodial interrogation,
the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and the accompanying Codes
of Practice, and the relevant ‘exclusionary rules’ (Gudjonsson, 1992, 1997f). In
this chapter, the basic legal issue background is given for the psychological and
psychiatric assessment of disputed confessions in England, Wales and Northern
Ireland.
The law in Northern Ireland regarding interrogations and confessions is
similar to that found in England and Wales. It is governed by the Police and
Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order Act 1989 and is based almost
entirely on the English and Welsh Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and
its accompanying Codes of Practice (PACE; Home Office, 1985a, 1995; Bevan &
Lidstone, 1985; Corre, 1995). However, it should be noted that some important
differences exist in law in relation to anti-terrorist legislation between England
and Wales on the one hand, and Northern Ireland on the other. For example, in
Northern Ireland, unlike the case in England and Wales, there is no entitlement
for a solicitor to be present during police interviews with terrorist suspects,
such interviews are not required to be tape-recorded and there are no jury
trials for such cases (Dickson, 1999). The Republic of Ireland (Walsh, 1999) and
Scotland (Walker, 1999a) have their own laws governing confession evidence,
and these differ markedly from the law and legal procedures in England, Wales
and Northern Ireland.