ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the extent to which the police abided by legal rules, police policies and procedures with regard to detainees’ rights in police detention and, furthermore, to examine the role of discretion in putting these rights into practice. It explores the nature of and extent of suspects’ rights varied tremendously between the cities in the research. The chapter explains the legality of police detention, focusing on the extent to which the police abided by legal rules with regard to detainees’ custodial rights, whilst also examining the role that discretion played in any departures from these rules. In terms of whether custodial rights mitigated the coercive effects of the custody environment, this seemed likely to be only partial and none more so in the American city in the research. The police in England have been found to use oppressive methods to obtain confessions.
