Book Review: Defending suspects at police stations: the practitioner’s guide to advice and representation

AuthorTim Bateman
Published date01 August 2004
Date01 August 2004
DOI10.1177/147322540400400207
Subject MatterArticles
Yojulay Book Reviews
Ed Cape with Jawaid Luqmani, Defending suspects at police stations: the
practitioner’s guide to advice and representation
, (fourth edition), Legal Action
Group, London, 2003, £42, Pb, 1 903307 X.
Reviewed by: Tim Bateman, Senior Policy Development Officer, Nacro.
This volume is legal text aimed primarily at those responsible for defending detainees
at the police station. It is extremely comprehensive, dealing in detail with the key
provisions of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and the associated
Codes of Practice, and spelling out the practical implications of those provisions for
giving legal advice. It is accordingly, at more than 850 pages, a book that few youth
justice practitioners will read in a single sitting.
This should not, however, be thought to imply that the publication is of no interest
to youth justice practitioners since much of the information it contains is of direct
relevance to the appropriate adult role. Carrying out that function effectively requires
a good knowledge of police powers and the rights that young people have while at the
police station. Defending suspects at police stations is probably the most thorough exposition
available. At the same time, much of the practical advice for legal representatives would
also be relevant for those acting as appropriate adults. There is also a chapter devoted
specifically to juveniles and other vulnerable groups, which gives a helpful account of
the relationship between the solicitor and the appropriate adult. In particular, it
highlights potential problems arising from the fact that the latter is not bound by any
duty of confidentiality and...

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