Report and Recommendations - Scottish Government

Report and Recommendations - Scottish Government Report and Recommendations - Scottish Government

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12.07.2015 Views

122

5.3 LIBERATION FROM POLICE CUSTODYIntroduction5.3.1 Article 5 permits the deprivation of liberty only when necessary for certainpurposes. It is implicit, therefore, that the suspect must not be detainedbeyond the point when there ceases to be a need for him/her to be held incustody. The decision to arrest the suspect does not mean that it will benecessary to continue to hold (or “detain”) him/her until his/her appearance incourt. Although the purpose of arrest and, thereafter, detention, under theproposed new regime, must remain to bring the suspect before the competentlegal authority, the Convention does not set out what criteria might be appliedto determine when it is necessary or proportionate for a suspect to remain incustody pending court appearance. The presumption must be in favour ofliberation in all cases and the main reasons for which a suspect will continueto be held in police custody legitimately must, as previously outlined, beconfined to situations in which he/she poses some risk, either to an individual,the public or the interests of justice, if at liberty.5.3.2 The Review is not concerned with the liberation of suspects once they haveappeared in court on petition or summary complaint. Such liberation, orremand to prison, is a matter for the sheriff or Justice of the Peace and, onappeal, the High Court, in terms of relatively well known and establishedprinciples. The Review is concerned with the liberation of suspects during thedifferent stages, and at the end, of an investigation, prior to that appearance.123

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