ISBN 0-9540254-0-7
247 pages
Price £23.50 in UK
Subject matter
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 has generated a mass of
case learning on the evidential implications of the silence of the
accused in the police station and at trial. Now that the torrent of
litigation has slowed to a trickle the time is due for a thoroughgoing
assessment of its impact. Uniquely, Silence and Guilt , furnishes such
a text, reviewing the case law in detail against an historical
background and a study of the issues involved in the debate which
foreshadowed the Act. The work seeks to achieve an encylopaedic
dimension by tapping into a wealth of academic treatments of the
subject but its immediate practical impact lies in the vital strategies
it contains for the successful defence of those suspects who elect to
stand upon their silence.
Contents
The contents include :
- Historical background to questioning of the
accused and resistance to compulsory interrogation
- The right to silence
- Issues in the debate on whether silence should
count as incriminatory
- The nature of silence
- Inferential routes to guilt
- Pre-1994 law on tacit admissions and failure at
the investigative stage to mention facts relied on at trial
- Case law on the application of section 34
(failure to mention)
- Review of Condron, Argent, Condron v UK,
Mountford, Hearne and a host of other decisions
- Impact of legal advice to say nothing
- Judicial marginalising of section 34
- Cautions on arrest and in interview
- Special warnings
- Silence at trial
- Potential impact of the Human Rights Act 1998
About the author
David Wolchover has practised at the criminal bar since his call by
Gray's Inn in 1971. Former Head of Chambers at 7 Bell Yard, he is an
acknowledged authority on PACE, has contributed a host of articles on
criminal evidence and procedure to a variety of legal journals and is
the author of several full-length texts: The
Exclusion of Improperly Obtained Evidence (Barry Rose
Publishers, Chichester 1986, ISBN 0-85992-380-0);
Wolchover and Heaton-Armstrong on Confession Evidence (lead
author; Sweet and Maxwell,1996, ISBN 0 421 54710 3; 734 pages); Bail in Criminal Proceedings
(co-author with Neil Corre;Blackstone Press 1999;ISBN 1-85431-921-3); Analysing Witness Testimony
(contributing co-editor; Blackstone Press, 1999; ISBN 1-85431-731-8);
and Witness Testimony:
Psychological, Investigative and Evidential Perspectives
(Oxford: OUP, 2006)
Reviews
What some of the reviews have
said:-
- " Compulsive and enlightening reading . . .
with some clear answers by an author deservedly well known to criminal
lawyers" --- ROGER EDE , The Law Society's Criminal Practitioner's Newletter , No. 45, June 2001 .
- "
Dynamic . . . thought-provoking . . . well constructed . . . logical
and comprehensive analysis of the multitude of interpretive questions .
. . wide-ranging reference to academic comment . . . extremely useful
to practitioners and academic alike" --- New Law Journal
, October 12, 2002.
- " No detail omitted . . ." --- Journal of the
Criminal Law Solicitors' Association,
Summer 2001
- "
Very comprehensive . . . substantial research . . . very useful
repository of authorities, articles and statements on this important
subject . . . which any practising criminal lawyer would be pleased to
possess and use on a regular basis" --- Journal of the Justices' Clerks' Society , Issue 175, September 2001
- "
It will prove to be of great value to defence lawyers particularly at
the pre-trial stage. . . . by design, no alphabetical index. The
publishers hope that the detailed contents list will suffice - the
index was not missed . . . aimed primarily at the working criminal
defence lawyer . . . it will find its way into many a call-out stand by
bag. . . . Justices' clerks may well wish to have it on their
bookshelves in the event that the standard textbooks do not cover a
point in sufficient detail." --- Magistrate ,
vol. 57, No. 10, Winter 2001
- "
[This study] exposes the falsity of government claims that [the 1994
Act] was a resource-neutral measure which would simply remove an
impediment to the exercise of common sense in the reaching of verdicts
. . . Wolchover is not much interested in the alarmist rhetoric in
which debates about the right to silence are traditionally conducted,
nevertheless the analytical and interpretive skills which he brings to
his material permit an alarming picture to emerge. . . . This book will
certainly become a vital legal tool for lawyers on both sides of the
adversarial divide and will also be valued by defence lawyers for its
tactical advice. In some areas it performs an important function in
advancing and clarifying the law. Take for instance the discussion of
silence on legal advice. Received wisdom has been that there is
virtually a presumption that inferences will be drawn against the
defendant in these circumstances unless he or she is prepared to waive
legal privilege and offer their lawyer as a witness to explain
precisely why the advice was given. By careful examination of the
authorities Wolchover debunks this view and wisely advises not to give
reasons for legal advice and to leave the jury to choose between a
perfectly feasible explanation (the defendant simply followed advice),
and barren speculation about possible inculpatory explanations for
silence (he hadn't made up his story yet). . . . This is by far the
best analysis of the silence legislation available. It will be hugely
influential amongst criminal practitioners and, although the book
itself has no overarching thesis, it will be an invaluable source for
those who seek to understand the fundamental change in the criminal
process brought about in 1994." --- ROGER LENG,
The Howard
Journal of Criminal Justice , vol.
41, No. 2, May 2002
Ordering copies
- Orders may be placed by posting to 6 The
Ridgeway, Golders Green,
London NW11 8TB, UK, a cheque for £25.50 (to cover the cost of
carriage) made out to David Wolchover.
- Orders may also be placed by E-mail to davidwolchover@gmail.com
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