Critically analyse the current law on the four ways of challenge to the admissibility of confession evidence, and assess how effec

Critically analyse the current law on the four ways of challenge to the admissibility of confession evidence, and assess how effective is this law in protecting the accused against injustice

Assessment task: Written analysis of a statement.

TITLE:

 ‘The admissibility of a confession may be challenged in one or more of four ways:

(a) under section 76(2)(a) of Police and Criminal Evience Act 1984 (PACE 1984), the prosecution has not proved that the confession was not or may not have been obtained by oppression of the person who made it;

(b) under section 76(2)(b) (PACE 1984), the prosecution has not proved that the confession was not or may not have been obtained in consequence of anything said or done which was likely, in the circumstances existing at the time, to render unreliable any confession which might be made in consequence thereof;

(c) under section 78 (PACE 1984), if it appears to the court that, having regard to all the circumstances, including the circumstances in which the evidence was obtained, the admission of the evidence would have such an adverse effect on the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not to admit it …; or

(d) at common law, in the discretion of the trial judge, the evidence ought to be excluded so as to protect the defendant from an unfair trial …’ (Archbold, Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice (2017) 15-426).

Critically analyse the current law on the four ways of challenge to the admissibility of confession evidence, and assess how effective is this law in protecting the accused against injustice.

Please use multiple cases from the UK case law, maximum 3 UK articles (if needed) and book (Singh and Ramjohn, Unlocking Evidence, 3rd ed, 2016, London: Routledge), to support the answer.

Please use footnotes for referencing used in the following page, as well as do the full referencing at the end of work.

OSCOLA Referencing