header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us

Digital legal rights

© Copyright LexisNexis 2025. All Rights Reserved.
13 February 2020 / Michael Zander KC
Issue: 7874 / Categories: Features , Criminal
printer mail-detail
15748
Can digital systems benefit suspects in the police station? Michael Zander considers some of the legal issues

Digital systems could help in the provision of legal advice for suspects in police stations according to Dr Vicky Kemp of the University of Nottingham, writing in February’s issue of Criminal Law Review. Dr Kemp has been involved in police station research for over two decades (see ‘Digital legal rights: exploring detainees’ understanding of the right to a lawyer and potential barriers to accessing legal advice’ [2020] Crim. L.R. 129-147).

Many of the issues and problems regarding access to legal advice are well known:

  • suspects with a poor understanding of why legal advice might be beneficial;
  • the police failing to comply with the PACE rules enabling legal advice;
  • difficulties for solicitors to get through to clients on the phone;
  • solicitors reluctant to come to the police station until the interview; and
  • the telephone used by suspects to speak to solicitors physically sited so that the conversation can be overheard by custody staff.
If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: AI boom collides with courtroom reality
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
NLJ this week: Small firms call for tech clarity as AI looms
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
NLJ this week: Traders’ convictions quashed in Libor shock
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
NLJ this week: Trans pool player loses discrimination fight
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, in this week's NLJ
NLJ this week: Pro bono power without the red tape
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll