Procedural changes in Switzerland: the lawyer goes into the interrogation room

Date13 February 2017
Pages2-13
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JFP-01-2015-0001
Published date13 February 2017
AuthorJulie Courvoisier
Subject MatterHealth & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Forensic practice,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Law enforcement/correctional,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice
Invited paper
Procedural changes in Switzerland: the
lawyer goes into the interrogation room
Julie Courvoisier
Abstract
Purpose The purposeof this paper is to highlighthow police officers,lawyers and prosecutors experienced
the implementationof the mandatory presenceof a lawyer duringpolice interrogationsince 2011in Switzerland.
Design/methodology/approach This research is based on semi-structured interviews conducted with
these practitioners in order to expose their points of view regarding this novelty.
Findings The presence of a lawyer during interrogation allows for a proper protection of the defendants
rights. Even if this new collaboration between police and lawyers goes better than expected,some issues still
remain. Lawyers can be helpful in some cases, but they also can be considered as an obstacle, especially for
psychological aspects and the building of a relationship between police officers and suspects. The issue of
videotaped interrogations seems to be currently important in Switzerland and most of these practitioners see
this practice as potentially beneficial.
Practical implications Police interrogation and the question of the defendants rights is often mediated, in
particular by addressing the issue of false confessions. Knowing the advantages and drawbacks of having a
lawyer during interrogation and how everyone experiences the practice can allow to adjust and to improve
this new collaboration.
Originality/value The case of Switzerland with the presence of a lawyer during police interrogations is
quite special. Understanding how it works and also compared to videotaping is highly relevant not only for
practitioners in criminal justice system.
Keywords Interviews, Qualitative research, Lawyers, Suspects, Defendants rights,
Police interrogation, Videotaping
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Until recently, there were important discrepancies between the Swiss cantons regarding
their practice in investigative interviewing. Indeed, each of the 26 cantons of Switzerland
had its own Criminal Procedure Code (CPC)[1]. If the basic general rules of interviewing were
almost the same in the country, each canton had its own manner to apply them and then some
differences existed. For instance, only interviews of young victims are videotaped whereas
interrogations of suspects are not audio nor video recorded, so everything is said during
interrogations must be typed on a computer. Thus, some cantons require that investigators are
two during interrogation so that one can question the suspect and the other one can transcript
what is said. Others cantons leave the investigators the choice to be alone or with another one
during interrogations. The lack of uniformity was one of the causes of the new CPC. Another
reason was the desire to facilitate and to improve mutual legal assistance and cooperation
between the cantons. Thus, this unified CPC was conceived on 5 October 2007 and was
enacted on 1 January 2011 (Courvoisier et al., 2016).
Received 9 January 2015
Revised 28 June 2015
Accepted 10 September 2015
The author would like to thank all
the practitioners who participated
in the study, for their confidence
and their agreement to confide
and share their opinions.
The author would also like to thank
the institutions where these people
are based for their trust and
access to persons and data.
Julie Courvoisier is a
PhD Student and a Research
Assistant at the School of
Criminal Sciences,
University of Lausanne,
Lausanne, Switzerland.
PAG E 2
j
JOURNAL OF FORENSIC PRACTICE
j
VOL. 19 NO. 1 2017, pp. 2-13, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2050-8794 DOI 10.1108/JFP-01-2015-0001

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