The justice lottery?: police station advice 25 years on from PACE

January 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the unequivocal right of police station detainees to obtain advice from a solicitor. However, while this right is a fundamental safeguard to procedural propriety, no large-scale investigation of the rates at which advice is requested or...

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Main Authors: Pleasence, Pascoe, Kemp, Vicky, Balmer, Nigel
Format: Article
Published: Sweet and Maxwell 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41157/
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author Pleasence, Pascoe
Kemp, Vicky
Balmer, Nigel
author_facet Pleasence, Pascoe
Kemp, Vicky
Balmer, Nigel
author_sort Pleasence, Pascoe
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description January 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the unequivocal right of police station detainees to obtain advice from a solicitor. However, while this right is a fundamental safeguard to procedural propriety, no large-scale investigation of the rates at which advice is requested or received has been undertaken in over a decade. This study, the most extensive yet undertaken, draws on data extracted from 30,921 custody records, across 44 police stations in 4 police force areas. We find the advice request rate has risen less than recent studies indicate. We also find substantial variation in request rates between police stations and police forces, after accounting for other factors, and a sharp drop in the request rate between ages 16 and 17. This drop supports proposals to extend requirements around appropriate adults to 17 year olds. We argue that, at a time of change in police station operation and advice provision, further monitoring of, and investigation into, the operation of the right to advice is required. © 2011 Thomson Reuters (Legal) Limited.
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spelling nottingham-411572020-05-04T20:23:41Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41157/ The justice lottery?: police station advice 25 years on from PACE Pleasence, Pascoe Kemp, Vicky Balmer, Nigel January 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the unequivocal right of police station detainees to obtain advice from a solicitor. However, while this right is a fundamental safeguard to procedural propriety, no large-scale investigation of the rates at which advice is requested or received has been undertaken in over a decade. This study, the most extensive yet undertaken, draws on data extracted from 30,921 custody records, across 44 police stations in 4 police force areas. We find the advice request rate has risen less than recent studies indicate. We also find substantial variation in request rates between police stations and police forces, after accounting for other factors, and a sharp drop in the request rate between ages 16 and 17. This drop supports proposals to extend requirements around appropriate adults to 17 year olds. We argue that, at a time of change in police station operation and advice provision, further monitoring of, and investigation into, the operation of the right to advice is required. © 2011 Thomson Reuters (Legal) Limited. Sweet and Maxwell 2011-01 Article PeerReviewed Pleasence, Pascoe, Kemp, Vicky and Balmer, Nigel (2011) The justice lottery?: police station advice 25 years on from PACE. Criminal Law Review, 2011 (1). pp. 3-18. ISSN 0011-135X Police detention; Right of access to legal advice; Socio-legal studies; Suspects http://login.westlaw.co.uk/maf/wluk/app/document?&srguid=i0ad629030000015aae2283406d49eaab&docguid=IE8FF65D004D211E09142839548276DE7&hitguid=IE8FF65D004D211E09142839548276DE7&rank=2&spos=2&epos=2&td=2&crumb-action=append&context=3&resolvein=true
spellingShingle Police detention; Right of access to legal advice; Socio-legal studies; Suspects
Pleasence, Pascoe
Kemp, Vicky
Balmer, Nigel
The justice lottery?: police station advice 25 years on from PACE
title The justice lottery?: police station advice 25 years on from PACE
title_full The justice lottery?: police station advice 25 years on from PACE
title_fullStr The justice lottery?: police station advice 25 years on from PACE
title_full_unstemmed The justice lottery?: police station advice 25 years on from PACE
title_short The justice lottery?: police station advice 25 years on from PACE
title_sort justice lottery?: police station advice 25 years on from pace
topic Police detention; Right of access to legal advice; Socio-legal studies; Suspects
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41157/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/41157/