Report and Recommendations - Scottish Government

ConsiderationThe period before charge5.2.14 It is assumed that it is accepted that the police are entitled to question suspectsand that a blanket prohibition on interviewing detained suspects is unrealisticin the modern world. The abolition of section 14 detention would, in theabsence of other statutory amendments, return the system to its pre 1980 state.A suspect would require to appear in court on the day after he/she was takeninto police custody. This is an option which the Review has seriouslyconsidered. It has certain attractions, including, not least, simplicity. Therewould be no formal period of detention during which questioning werepermitted or prohibited. An arrested person would not require to be chargedimmediately after arrest but he/she could be questioned by the police up untilat least the point at which he/she was charged by the police. This could beshortly before any required appearance in court. If matters rested there,however, he/she could conceivably be questioned repeatedly and for hours.Because of that it is clear that there requires to be some formal regulation ofthe time during which the police can question arrested suspects during theirdetention.5.2.15 Under the current system, the police have only a limited time during whichthey can detain a suspect against whom there is insufficient evidence to justifya charge. In contrast, they may be holding a suspect in section 14 detentionalthough there is sufficient evidence to charge and prosecute him/her.Suspects may be arrested or released without charge within, or at the end of,106