What Happens in the Beginning, Matters in the End: Achieving Best Evidence with Child Suspects in the Police Station

Kate Gooch*, Piers von Berg

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    7 Citations (SciVal)

    Abstract

    During the last 30 years, the way in which children give evidence in the criminal justice system in England and Wales has been radically transformed. These reforms have, however, neglected child suspects in the police station. Recent piecemeal reforms to the statutory regime for children in police detention have overlooked a critical stage of the criminal justice process: the police interview. This article critically analyses the policy, practice and law surrounding police questioning of child suspects. It demonstrates that the absence of child-specific guidance when interviewing child suspects is not only out of step with wider reforms, but carries real risks regarding the effective communication and participation of child suspects.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)85-101
    Number of pages17
    JournalYouth Justice
    Volume19
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished (VoR) - 28 Aug 2019

    Keywords

    • children
    • evidence
    • interviews
    • police
    • rights

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'What Happens in the Beginning, Matters in the End: Achieving Best Evidence with Child Suspects in the Police Station'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this