The rules governing police interviews under PACE, and how a suspect's silence can be held against them at trial under the CJPOA 1994.
What happens in the interview room can decide the outcome of a prosecution long before trial begins. This chapter starts with what counts as an interview, when a caution is required and the legal status of the right to silence, then moves through the rules on how interviews must be conducted — location, pre-interview disclosure, breaks and recording. It covers the right to legal advice under section 58, the safeguards for juveniles and other vulnerable suspects, and how significant statements and silences made outside the formal interview must be handled. It closes with the adverse inference provisions of the CJPOA 1994, including special warnings and the effect of legal advice to stay silent, and the routes for excluding improperly obtained confessions under sections 76 and 78 of PACE.
