A.C 1.4 Rights of Suspects, Witnesses, and Victims
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The rights of suspects
To arrest a suspect there has to be enough reason to believe the person was
involved in the crime committed. When a suspect is arrested the police have to make
them aware of their rights, this is done by saying “you do not have to say anything,
but it may harm your defence if you do not mention something when questioned that
you later rely on in court” and “anything you do say could be used as evidence”.
Suspects are entitled to free legal advice, and if the suspect asks for a lawyer or
attorney, they can't start questioning until the suspect has a lawyer or attorney
present. Also the suspect has the right for medical assistance, the ability to tell
someone where they are, a written notice of their rights, and a written notice in their
spoken language.if the suspect is under 18, they have to be accompanied by an
appropriate adult (parent/guardian) during questioning. The suspect also has the
right to be protected from any false statements made by the police during
questioning through the use of voice recordings (and videos). The suspect also has
the right to ask the police to remove their information off of their database in some
circumstances such as unlawful detention (false imprisonment/misconviction) or if
the offence doesn't exist anymore. Stefen Kiszko was aware of his rights. He was
questioned for 3 days without the presence of a solicitor or attorney.this led to the
mentally disabled man then confessing to the murder when in actual fact he was
innocent and spent 16 years in prison until this was found. This shows how important
these rights are.
The rights of witnesses
Witnesses who have been asked to go to court to testify by a court , have a legal
obligation to appear and testify. If asked to appear in court by the police prosecutions
office you are required to appear in the same way. Witnesses who give testimony to
the police or the court or the public prosecutors office must tell the truth and disclose
all information about the crime. In some cases due to circumstances, the witness
can refuse to testify for example if you are testifying against close relatives.
Therefore they don't have to answer all the questions if it will incriminate themselves
or close relatives. Before questioning, witnesses are told their rights and obligations.
The court then gets to decide if they have the right not to testify or not. Giving false
testimony in court is an offence and can result in imprisonment from 3 months-5
years. If the false testimony given under ‘oath’ the punishment can be increased
even higher. Children, intellectually diabled, victims to sexual offences related to the
case, are all vulnerable in the courts opinion. Also domestic violence victims have a
6 marks - add to notes
The rights of suspects
To arrest a suspect there has to be enough reason to believe the person was
involved in the crime committed. When a suspect is arrested the police have to make
them aware of their rights, this is done by saying “you do not have to say anything,
but it may harm your defence if you do not mention something when questioned that
you later rely on in court” and “anything you do say could be used as evidence”.
Suspects are entitled to free legal advice, and if the suspect asks for a lawyer or
attorney, they can't start questioning until the suspect has a lawyer or attorney
present. Also the suspect has the right for medical assistance, the ability to tell
someone where they are, a written notice of their rights, and a written notice in their
spoken language.if the suspect is under 18, they have to be accompanied by an
appropriate adult (parent/guardian) during questioning. The suspect also has the
right to be protected from any false statements made by the police during
questioning through the use of voice recordings (and videos). The suspect also has
the right to ask the police to remove their information off of their database in some
circumstances such as unlawful detention (false imprisonment/misconviction) or if
the offence doesn't exist anymore. Stefen Kiszko was aware of his rights. He was
questioned for 3 days without the presence of a solicitor or attorney.this led to the
mentally disabled man then confessing to the murder when in actual fact he was
innocent and spent 16 years in prison until this was found. This shows how important
these rights are.
The rights of witnesses
Witnesses who have been asked to go to court to testify by a court , have a legal
obligation to appear and testify. If asked to appear in court by the police prosecutions
office you are required to appear in the same way. Witnesses who give testimony to
the police or the court or the public prosecutors office must tell the truth and disclose
all information about the crime. In some cases due to circumstances, the witness
can refuse to testify for example if you are testifying against close relatives.
Therefore they don't have to answer all the questions if it will incriminate themselves
or close relatives. Before questioning, witnesses are told their rights and obligations.
The court then gets to decide if they have the right not to testify or not. Giving false
testimony in court is an offence and can result in imprisonment from 3 months-5
years. If the false testimony given under ‘oath’ the punishment can be increased
even higher. Children, intellectually diabled, victims to sexual offences related to the
case, are all vulnerable in the courts opinion. Also domestic violence victims have a
