NCJ Number
133176
Date Published
1991
Length
200 pages
Annotation
Many British law enforcement groups including the Police Federation, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and the Criminal Law Revision Committee have recommended modifying the current law on the right to silence. The arguments for modification encompass a number of diverse views revolving around the question of when during the criminal justice process can the right be invoked.
Abstract
The right to silence has become the site on which conflicts between police and civil libertarians have fought for two decades. This book overviews the existing law on the right to silence and examines the major reviews of the law and recommendations for reform. Three chapters assess the primary arguments for change which emphasize that the law protects the guilty. The situation in Northern Ireland is used as an example of the impact of the right to silence law. Rights-based and consequentialist arguments are analyzed in the book which also examines the implementation of changes to the right to silence law in other jurisdictions. The extent to which the right to silence exists in practice is discussed in terms of the rationality of the exclusion of bodily samples from the scope of the privilege against self-incrimination and the statutory and common law limitations which usually prompt waiver of the right to silence. The author concludes that utilitarian arguments for abolition are weak and that the right to silence, which is important in protecting individual rights, should be retained and strengthened. Chapter references