This thesis considers the impact of substantially attenuating a suspect's right to silence
on the relative positions of the police and defence in custodial interviews. The main
hypothesis argues that these provisions have had a significant, unforeseen impact on the
working dynamic between police officers and legal advisers. Interview strategies have
developed, which seek to reinforce advantages to the police associated with control of
pre-interview evidential disclosure. A second hypothesis postulates that introduction of
the inference provisions has influenced suspect behaviour during custodial interrogation,
leading to a reduced reliance upon the exercise of silence.
The study drew upon data collected from in-depth, tape-recorded interviews with police
officers involved at various stages of the investigative process, representing a wide
variety of roles and experience. Full transcripts of the interviews were prepared and then
subjected to a close-grained, qualitative analysis in which various themes were identified.
The findings reveal, inter alia, that pre-interview disclosure has assumed increased
significance, and can be instrumental to the interrogation outcome. Police officers are
accorded considerable discretion in the management of police-suspect relations, which is
evident in the emergence of control strategies for case-related information. Greater
openness has flowed from the development of better-trained lawyers, and was manifest in
the increased emphasis by police officers on truth-seeking during interview. Evidence
emerged of controlled disclosure being used as a mechanism for securing or negotiating
the co-operation of an interviewee. The extent of disclosure varied according to a number
of factors, although, in serious or complex cases, non-disclosure formed the basis for the
strategy. The incremental release of information has been shown to have an unsettling
effect on interviewees and can undermine the legal adviser's presence. The police claim
fewer no-comment interviews and improved content from the use of these tactics -
findings that are echoed in recent studies by the Home Office and in Northern Ireland.
The research therefore indicates that there is evidence to support both hypotheses
