Children, young people and requests for police station legal advice: 25 years on from PACE

Informed by data extracted from 30,921 police electronic custody records, drawn from 44 police stations across four police force areas and including 5153 records of juveniles aged 10 to 17 years, this article examines the take-up of legal advice by children and young people in police stations in England and Wales. There are wide variations in the extent to which juveniles request and receive legal advice when compared to adults but also between juveniles of different ages. Such variations are explored both in relation to the age of detainees and the type and seriousness of offence and case disposal. Also examined are variations based on different police force areas. The implications emanating from children’s differential access to legal advice at police stations are considered in relation to children’s rights

The justice lottery?: police station advice 25 years on from PACE

January 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the unequivocal right of police station detainees to obtain advice from a solicitor. However, while this right is a fundamental safeguard to procedural propriety, no large-scale investigation of the rates at which advice is requested or received has been undertaken in over a decade. This study, the most extensive yet undertaken, draws on data extracted from 30,921 custody records, across 44 police stations in 4 police force areas. We find the advice request rate has risen less than recent studies indicate. We also find substantial variation in request rates between police stations and police forces, after accounting for other factors, and a sharp drop in the request rate between ages 16 and 17. This drop supports proposals to extend requirements around appropriate adults to 17 year olds. We argue that, at a time of change in police station operation and advice provision, further monitoring of, and investigation into, the operation of the right to advice is required. © 2011 Thomson Reuters (Legal) Limited

Whose time is it anyway?: factors associated with duration in police custody

This study is based on a statistical analysis of police custody records. We earlier examined the take-up of legal advice and now turn our attention to the time people spend in police custody. We find that the average time people are detained seems to have risen over recent years and that a number of factors can impact on the length of detention, including differences found between police stations. The expectations that PACE would restrict the length of time individuals are held in custody were not borne out by the data from the police stations included in this stud

A study of professional awareness using immersive virtual reality: the responses of general practitioners to child safeguarding concerns

The art of picking up signs that a child may be suffering from abuse at home is one of those skills that cannot easily be taught, given its dependence on a range of non-cognitive abilities. It is also difficult to study, given the number of factors that may interfere with this skill in a real-life, professional setting. An immersive virtual reality environment provides a way round these difficulties. In this study, we recruited 64 general practitioners (GPs), with different levels of experience. Would this level of experience have any impact on general practitioners’ ability to pick up child-safeguarding concerns? Would more experienced GPs find it easier to pick up subtle (rather than obvious) signs of child-safeguarding concerns? Our main measurement was the quality of the note left by the GP at the end of the virtual consultation: we had a panel of 10 (all experienced in safeguarding) rate the note according to the extent to which they were able to identify and take the necessary steps required in relation to the child safeguarding concerns. While the level of professional experience was not shown to make any difference to a GP’s ability to pick up those concerns, the parent’s level of aggressive behavior toward the child did. We also manipulated the level of cognitive load (reflected in a complex presentation of the patient’s medical condition): while cognitive load did have some impact upon GPs in the “obvious cue” condition (parent behaving particularly aggressively), this effect fell short of significance. Furthermore, our results also suggest that GPs who are less stressed, less neurotic, more agreeable and extroverted tend to be better at raising potential child abuse issues in their notes. These results not only point at the considerable potential of virtual reality as a training tool, they also highlight fruitful avenues for further research, as well as potential strategies to support GP’s in their dealing with highly sensitive, emotionally charged situations

TARGETING CIVIL LEGAL NEEDS: MATCHING SERVICES TO NEEDS

The cost of administering and funding legal aid in England and Wales is in excess of two billion pounds. A recent study of private law family cases highlights how the current scheme tends to focus narrowly on particular legal issues and creates incentives for litigation rather than informal negotiation. Survey findings of legal need help to highlight that people experience a wide range of problems and often fail to receive proper help and support. Innovations taking place in both the developing and developed world can help to illustrate how legal services can expand and develop to reach out to those most vulnerable in society. To target civil legal needs and to match services to needs, it is argued that the legal aid scheme needs to broaden out and effectively link in with other forms of advice and support in order to provide joined up solutions to legal problems

Wrong about Rights: Public Knowledge of Key Areas of Consumer, Housing and Employment Law in England and Wales

Over many decades, processes of juridification have brought about huge growth in legal rights, responsibilities and protections, yet citizens appear to poorly understand this ‘law thick’ world. This impacts citizens’ capacity to ‘name, blame and claim’ in the legal domain at a time of retreat from public funding of civil legal services. This article examines public knowledge of rights in key areas relating to consumer, housing and employment law. Drawing on data from the 2010–2012 English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey, the article uses responses to a series of hypothetical scenarios to explore public knowledge of rights and characteristics associated with knowledge. Our findings highlight a substantial deficit in individuals’ understanding of legal rights and responsibilities – even among those for whom particular rights and responsibilities have specific bearing. We also consider what these findings mean for public legal education and the efficiency, efficacy and legitimacy of the law

Whose time is it anyway?: factors associated with duration in police custody

This study is based on a statistical analysis of police custody records. We earlier examined the take-up of legal advice and now turn our attention to the time people spend in police custody. We find that the average time people are detained seems to have risen over recent years and that a number of factors can impact on the length of detention, including differences found between police stations. The expectations that PACE would restrict the length of time individuals are held in custody were not borne out by the data from the police stations included in this stud