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Right to silence (1)

01 January 1991

Right to silence
artdoc August=1992

The right to silence, one of the hallmarks of the criminal
justice system, is under serious threat from the Royal Commission
on Criminal Justice. The police have been trying to abolish the
right for several years, on the ground that it gives an unfair
advantage to criminals and induces police officers to bend the
rules to secure convictions.
The right was abolished in Northern Ireland in 1988, in the
middle of the trial of the Winchester Three (their conviction on
terrorism conspiracy charges were quashed because of the way the
announcement was made by the then Attorney-General).
Now all the signs are that the Royal Commission will propose
the ending in mainland Britain of the right to silence - or at
least its significant erosion by judicial comment on an accused's
failure to account for themselves to the police. The Lord Chief
Justice, Peter Taylor, in an interview in Law in Action on 26
June, indicated that there were problems with maintaining the
right in all cases, and that in some cases the police felt it was
only fair for judges to be able to comment. In this he dashed any
hopes that observers might have had that his appointment marked
a real and radical change in the attitude of the judiciary
towards the protection of innocence in the criminal process.
If the Royal Commission makes such a proposal, it will be
following the pattern set by its predecessors, all of which were
set up in the wake of appalling miscarriages of justice, and all
of which ended up by eroding suspects' rights further and
granting the police ever more powers.

Statewatch vol 2 no 4, July/August 1992