Subjects:

Criminal Law

Contents:

The history and development of the law on the right to silence

proposals for reform - the debate on the right to silence

the right to silence in Nothern Ireland

the right to silence in modern conditions - the impact of PACE

the right to silence and the protection of the guilty

justifications of the right to silence - right versus utility

the priviledge against self-incrimination in the United States

bodily samples and the priviledge against self-incrimination

infringing and waiving the right to silence

miscarriages of justice.

This second edition of The Right to Silence (first published by Avebury in 1991) takes account of recent important changes, principally the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994, which has substantially amended the right to silence.

The text has been updated to take account of the report of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice and the relevant research studies undertaken for the Commission

• developments in Northern Ireland since 1991
• challenges in the European Court of Human Rights to the infringement of the right to silence in relation to white collar crime
• the background to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994 – its history; provisions and implications
• changes to the provisions regarding bodily samples in the Criminal Justice Act
• updates on the material on miscarriages of justice.