NCJ Number
126558
Date Published
1990
Length
268 pages
Annotation
The use of police interrogation to obtain evidence from those suspected of criminal offenses in Canada is the focus of this book.
Abstract
Although police almost always question suspects at some stage of the investigative process, the field of Canadian legal academics has generally ignored police interrogation when writing about the criminal justice process. The scarcity of legal analysis on the interrogation process is a serious problem, since careful investigation of the laws governing such a common practice is essential if justice is to be guaranteed. In examining pretrial police interrogation of criminals, the book's objective is to present to criminal lawyers, police, legal academics, and others involved in criminal proceedings a critical review of Canadian law regulating police interrogation against a backdrop of empirical research into the interrogation process. The first chapter presents some basic definitions of interrogation and covers interrogation techniques. The second chapter considers police compliance with interrogation law in England, Canada, and the United States. Subsequent chapters address the right to remain silent, the privilege against self-incrimination, arrest and detention, confessions, questioning of young people, exclusion of evidence, and interrogation reform proposals. Appendixes contain supplemental information on who confesses, the importance of interrogation, and interrogation studies. Notes, tables, and index