Detention, Treatment and Questioning

An arrested person must be taken to a police station (if he or she is not already at one) as soon as practicable after arrest. At the station, he or she will be seen by the custody officer who will consider the reasons for the arrest and whether there are sufficient grounds for the person to be detained. The Code of Practice under the 1984 Police and Criminal Evidence Act made it clear that juveniles should not be placed in the cells. Most police stations should have a detention room for those juveniles who need to be detained. The suspect has a right to speak to an independent solicitor free of charge and to have a relative or other re person told of his or her arrest. Where a person has been arrested in connection with a serious arrest able offence, but has not yet been charged, the police may delay the exercise of these rights for up to 36 hours in the interests of the investigation if certain strict criteria are met.

A suspect may refuse to answer police questions or to give evidence in court. Changes to this so-called 'right to silence' has been made by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to allow courts in England and Wales to draw inferences from a defendant's refusal to answer police questions or to give information during his or her trial. Reflecting this change in the law, a new form of police caution (which must precede any questions to a suspect harm your defence if you do not mention for the purpose of obtaining evidence) is intended to ensure that people understand the possible consequences if they answer questions or stay silent. Questions relating to an offence may not normally be put to a person after he or she has been charged with that offence or informed that he or she may be prosecuted for it. The length of time a suspect is held in police custody before charge is strictly regulated. For lesser offences this may not exceed 24 hours. A person suspected of committing a serious arrestable offence can be detained for up to 96 hours without charge but beyond 36 hours only if a warrant is obtained from a magistrates' court. Reviews must be made of a person's detention at regular intervals — six hours after initial detention and thereafter every nine hours as a maximum—to check whether the criteria for detention are still satisfied. If they are not, the person must be released immediately. Interviews with suspected offenders at police stations must be tape-recorded when the police are investigating indictable offences and in certain other cases. The police are not precluded from taping interviews for other types of offences. The taping of interviews is regulated by a code of practice approved by Parliament, and the suspect is entitled to a copy of the tape. A person who thinks that the grounds for detention are unlawful may apply to the High Court in England and Wales for a writ of Habeas Corpus against the person who detained him or her, requiring that person to appear before the court to justify the detention. Habeas Corpus proceedings take precedence over others. Similar procedures apply in Northern Ireland and a similar remedy is available to anyone who is unlawfully detained in Scotland. Recognizing that the use of DNA analysis has become a powerful tool in the investigation of crime, the Government has extended police powers to take body samples from suspects. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 allows the police to take non-intimate samples without consent from anyone who is detained or convicted for a recordable offence, and to use the samples to search against existing records of convicted offenders or unsolved crimes. In time a national database will be built up.

Charging

Once there is sufficient evidence, the police have to decide whether a detained person should be charged with the offence. If there is insufficient evidence to charge, the person maybe released on bail pending further enquiries by the police. The police may decide to take no further action in respect of a particular offence and to release the person. Alternatively, they may decide to issue him or her with a formal caution, which will be recorded and may be taken into account if he or she subsequently re-offends. If charged with an offence, a person may be kept in custody if there is a risk that he or she might fail to appear in court or might interfere with the administration of justice. When no such considerations apply, the person must be released on or without bail. Where someone is detained after charge, he or she must be brought before a magistrates' court as soon as practicable. This is usually no later than the next working day.

 

Task 2. Answer following questions:

1. What are the main police powers in England and Wales?

2. In what cases can a police officer stop and search the suspect?

3. What does the procedure of stop and search consists of?

4. What are the provisions of 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act?

5. What document is necessary to carry out an arrest?

6. What are the arrestable offences?

7. W hen can a person be arrested without a warrant?

8. W here should the suspects be taken after arrest?

9. What rights does the arrested person have?

10. When can the exercise of these rights be delayed?

11. What is the police caution?

12. W hat does the 'right of silence' consist of? What can the consequences of using this right be for the suspect?

13. How long can a person are kept in custody before being charged?

14. What is the procedure of interviewing the detained person at the police station?

15. What can a person do in case of unlawful detention?

16. What are the provisions of the Habeas Corpus Act?

17. What happens to a person after he or she has been charged?

Task 3.Find in the text above the English equivalents for the following words and expressions:

1.задержание и досмотр

2. процессуальный кодекс

3. расследование преступлений

4. права граждан

5. преступления в связи, с которыми может быть произведен арест

6. судебная повестка

7. причинение ущерба / нанесение телесных повреждений

8. право не отвечать на вопросы

9. преступления, рассматриваемые по обвинительному акту

10.основания для задержания

11.расширенные полномочия полиции

12.запротоколированное, зарегистрированное преступление

13.веские /достаточные доказательства

14.полицейский участок

15.подлежать дисциплинарному взысканию

16.иметь веские/разумные основания

17.уполномочивать, давать право

18.принимать меры

19.совершать повторные правонарушения

 

 

The Miranda Warning

"You have the tight to remain silent; anything you say can be used against you...", these are the words of the "Miranda warning" which was created as a result of 1966 United State Supreme Court case, Miranda vs. Arizona. It began when Ernesto Miranda was arrested at his home and taken into custody to the police station, where he was identified by a witness as the map who had kidnapped and raped a woman. Police officers took Mr. Miranda into an interrogation room and two hours later emerged with a written confession signed by Mr. Miranda that also stated that the confession was made voluntarily and with full knowledge of his legal rights. The officers, however, failed to advise Mr. Miranda that he had a right to have an attorney present. The United States Supreme Court ruled that the confession could not be used as evidence of Mr. Miranda's guilt because he was not fully advised on his legal rights, which included the right to have his attorney present. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that no person can be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. To ensure that other accused criminals are made aware of their constitutional rights, the Supreme Court ruled that a suspect who is taken into custody and interrogated must receive a warning of the following rights: the right to remain silent, that anything he says can be used against him in a court of law, that he has a right of the presence of an attorney, and that if he can not afford an attorney, one will be appointed for him prior to any questioning if he so desires. The 'Miranda warning' is now applied by law officers throughout the United States as a result of misruling.

Task 5. Match the following English expressions with their Russian equivalent:

 

1) credit for time in custody

2) defendant not in custody

3) detention in custody

4) escape by person in custody

5) in-custody confession

6) in-custody interrogation

7) person in custody

8) remand in custody

9) retention in custody

10) to discharge from custody

11) to keep in custody

12) to submit to custody

 

 

а) возвращение под стражу

b) дальнейшее содержание под стражей

с) передать, препроводить под стражу

d) допрос лица, находящегося под стражей

е) содержать под стражей

f) зачёт времени пребывания под стражей

g)лицо, содержащееся под стражей

i) освободить из-под стражи

h) побег из-под стражи

j) подсудимый, находящийся на свободе

k) признание, сделанное лицом, находящимся под стражей

l) содержание под стражей

 

Task 6. Fill in the gaps in the text below with the appropriate words from the box:

 

Theft; sentence; charge; fine; fingerprints; oath; arrest; evidence; cell; court; magistrate; handcuff; witnesses; investigate; detained; pleaded; found.

 

A policeman was sent to ______ the disappearance of some property from a hotel. When he arrived, he found that the hotel staff had caught a boy in one of the rooms with a camera and some cash. When the policeman tried to _______the boy, he came violent and the policeman had to_______ him. At the police station the boy could not give a satisfactory explanation for his actions and the police decided to ________him with the _________of the camera and cash. They took his ________, locked him in a _________, and _________him overnight. The next morning he appeared in _______before the _______. He took an ________and ____ not guilty. Two _________, the owner of the property and a member of the hotel staff, gave ________. After both sides of the case had been heard the boy was __________guilty. He had to pay a __________of 50 and he was given a ________of three months in prison suspended for two years.

 

Task 7. Fill in the gaps with the prepositions from the box. Some of these can be used more than once:

Before; in; to; of; with

1. He’s being kept ______custody.

2. He was sentence ______five years.

3. She got a sentence ______six months.

4. He was accused ______murder.

5. She’s been charged _______theft

6. He appeared ______court _____handcuff

7. They were brought ______the judge.

 

GRAMMAR