Police and criminal evidence act 1984 essay

Document currently unavailable Please try again later. Alternatively, send us an email using the feedback icon in the toolbar below. We will let you know when the document is available. Close Modal Admissibility and exclusion of evidence—overview The question of admissibility of evidence is whether the evidence is relevant to a fact in issue in the case.

Freed in "Justice is something that is not on this government's curriculum. Executed in - his conviction was overturned in "We are too often strangled by a system of rules and interpretation, which prevents us getting to the truth" Sir David Phillips, Chief Constable of Kent.

Served 18 years for a multiple murder caused by an IRA bombing in Campaigns started to spring up around individual cases. The phrase "miscarriage of justice" was crystallised around two big cases - the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four.

Both stemmed from IRA outrages against civilian targets at the height of the bombing campaign. Police appeared to have quickly rounded up the suspects and brought them to justice. In reality the wrong men had been convicted.

It was only due to the determination and investigative skills of a TV documentary team and MP Chris Mullin, himself a former journalist, that the injustice suffered by the Birmingham Six came to light.

When they were released by the Court of Appeal in it seemed there was hope for dozens of prisoners who had been pleading their innocence in vain for years.

Even cases from beyond the grave, such as Derek Bentley and Hussein Mattan, have been revisited and names cleared. But there are still many people in prison proclaiming Police and criminal evidence act 1984 essay innocence.

The Guildford Four are released by the Court of Appeal. The detectives at the centre of the case are later cleared of fabricating evidence. The Birmingham Six are freed. Prosecutions against officers accused of tampering with evidence are halted because of "adverse publicity".

The Bridgwater Four - minus Patrick Molloy, who died in jail - are released after 17 years in prison. The M25 Three are freed by three Court of Appeal judges who say there had been a "conspiracy" to give perjured evidence. A miscarriage of justice can result from non-disclosure of evidence by police or prosecution, fabrication of evidence, poor identification, overestimation of the evidential value of expert testimony, unreliable confessions due to police pressure or psychological instability and misdirection by a judge during trial.

Since two pieces of legislation have been introduced in an attempt to prevent further miscarriages. The Police And Criminal Evidence Act PACE gave detectives rigid rules on how long they could question suspects for and insisted interviews be taped to ensure there was no mistreatment or undue intimidation.

The Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act was also introduced in an attempt to make sure police or the Crown Prosecution Service CPS disclose to the defence everything which could be relevant to their case. However a recent review of disclosure undertaken by the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate found the CPIA did not have the "confidence of criminal practitioners".

Adversarial system under attack Paddy Hill, one of the Birmingham Six, is sceptical such legislation is enough. Mr Hill would like to see: The adversarial system replaced with a continental-style inquisitorial system, where the driving motive behind any police investigation is the search for the truth.

Juries forced to give their verdicts in writing, to amplify on their reasons and guard against the danger of "perverse" verdicts. Judges and other judicial officials being elected, rather than chosen by "the establishment".

Changes in the law to ensure police officers who break the law are convicted and sent to prison. Kevin Christian, whose brother Derek is serving a life sentence for a murder he denies committing, is a member of the pressure group Innocent.

The Guildford Four is a prime example. Even after the Balcombe Street Gang had admitted they were responsible for the Woolwich bomb, the Court of Appeal would not even entertain the possibility that the Guildford Four were innocent.

Many miscarriages result, ironically, from weak prosecution cases. Where there is very little in the way of a prosecution case to dismantle, it is very difficult to mount a cogent defence case," he said.

Investigating alleged miscarriages The Criminal Cases Review Commission was set up by the last government in an attempt to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice properly.

It is an independent body responsible for investigating alleged miscarriages in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Critics say it is under-funded, understaffed and not sufficiently independent. It currently has a backlog of 1, cases about a third of all applications to date.The UK's Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) was an innovative and controversial attempt to regulate the investigation of crime.

Two decades on, it . PACE is the short form for the Police And Criminal Evidence Act This act governs the major part of police powers of investigation including, arrest, detention, interrogation, entry and search of premises, personal search and the taking of samples.

Also part of this legislation are the PACE Codes of Practice which police officers should take into . The law regarding entrapment. Shannon appealed against his conviction on the basis that the evidence was obtained unfairly under section 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act In .

The year, saw the introduction of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, also known as the PACE codes. The PACE codes were an act of parliment, the introduction of these codes was to standardise and proffessionalise police work. Section 78, Police and Criminal Evidence Act Practical Law Primary Source (Approx.

1 page) Ask a question Section 78, Police and Criminal Evidence Act Toggle Table of Contents Table of Contents. Ctrl + Alt + T to open/close. Links to this primary source;. under the English Police and Criminal Evidence Act (pages ); Police powers of detention after arrest were considered in some detail in the Criminal Procedure: Police Powers of Arrest and Detention, A Discussion Paper for Community Consultation, , p 6.