Police Interview

Abstract

Abstract This final empirical chapter addresses the culmination of the custody process—the police interview—and evaluates the outcomes of police detention against the theoretical framework. I review the challenges of assessing fitness for interview in the custody block and the inadequacies of the current arrangements. In relation to the obtaining of accurate and reliable evidence, the analysis explores the cumulative impact of the child’s custody experience on their ability to cope with interview and to give a good account of themselves when questioned. I focus, in particular, on the counterproductive impact of coercive interviewing tactics, which are liable to confuse and frustrate rather than to foster effective participation and elicit reliable evidence. I argue, in the conclusion, for a recognition that, in most cases, the investigation, and the wider purposes of the youth justice process, are not best served by interviewing a child in detention.