Police custody acts as an important gateway to the criminal justice process. Much is at stake here for both staff and suspects as what happens in police custody can have important consequences further down the line. This book offers a timely contribution to research on police custody, which has been largely neglected for the last decade, and it is the first to examine the growing role given to civilians employed by the police or by private security companies within police custody areas. The book draws on a mixed-method study of two custody areas, one publicly-run, and the other largely privately-run. This empirical analysis explores anew suspects’ experiences of police custody from arrest to charge, including their access to due process rights such as phone calls, legal advice and detention reviews, as well as shedding light on the hitherto unexplored working relationships between the police, civilian police staff (public and private), legal advisers, doctors, appropriate adults and drug workers. These findings on the police custody process are used to examine pertinent socio-legal and theoretical matters connected to due process, the role of the police in policing, as well as procedural justice and legitimacy. The book integrates issues which are topical and of utmost empirical, theoretical and political significance, meaning that it is likely to have a broad appeal to students, academics, practitioners and policy-makers with an interest in the criminal justice process, policing and the sociology of law.

This book provides a nuanced and timely contribution to the question of vulnerability in police custody. It addresses the implementation of the appropriate adult safeguard in respect of adult suspects and explores police decision-making in this context. Drawing on empirical research carried out in England, the work takes a socio-legal approach to examine how and why police custody officers implement or not the appropriate adult safeguard. The book’s core arguments are addressed within three parts. Part I examines how vulnerability is constructed philosophically and practically, firstly within the broader literature, thereafter at common law and in statute, and finally by police custody officers. Part 2 discusses how vulnerability is identified and how decisions are made in response to vulnerability. Part 3 critically assesses the theoretical understandings of police decision-making and criminal justice. Here it is argued that current theories on police decision-making hold explanatory power yet have significant shortcomings in relation to vulnerability and the appropriate adult safeguard. The book thus presents new theoretical insights and, on the basis of these insights, asserts that the current regime of regulation must be reconsidered, while police compliance may only be ensured if vulnerability is radically reconceptualised.

Police custody is the gateway to the criminal justice process, meaning that there is much at stake for staff & suspects. This book contributes to research on the police custody process & examines the growing role given to civilians employed by the police or by private security companies within police custody areas.

Police Custody in Ireland brings together experts from policing studies, law, criminology, and psychology, to critically examine contemporary police custody in Ireland, what we know about it, how it operates, how it is experienced, and how it might be improved. This first-of-its-kind collection focuses exclusively on detention in Garda Síochána stations, critically examining it from human rights and best practice perspectives. It examines the physical environment of custody, police interview techniques, existing protections, rights, and entitlements, and experiences of specific communities in custody, such as children, ethnic minorities, non-English speakers, the Mincéir/Traveller community, and those with intellectual disabilities or Autism Spectrum Disorder. Police Custody in Ireland gives a snapshot of garda custody as it is now and makes important recommendations for necessary future improvements. An accessible and compelling read, this book will be of interest to those engaged in policing and criminology, as well as related areas of interest such as human rights, youth justice and disability studies.

Custody visitors are volunteers who make unannounced visits to police custody blocks to check on the welfare of detainees. However, there is a fundamental power imbalance between the police and these visitors. This timely book offers detailed proposals for radically reforming custody visiting to make it an effective regulator of police behaviour.

Deaths in Custody : Third report of session 2004-05, Vol. 2: Oral and written Evidence

Police detention is the place where suspects are taken whilst their case is investigated and a case disposal decision is reached. It is also a largely hidden, but vital, part of police work and an under-explored aspect of police studies. This book provides a much-needed comparative perspective on police detention. It examines variations in the relationship between police powers and citizens’ rights inside police detention in cities in four jurisdictions (in Australia, England, Ireland and the US), exploring in particular the relative influence of discretion, the law and other rule structures on police practices, as well as seeking to explain why these variations arise and what they reveal about state-citizen relations in neoliberal democracies. This book draws on data collected in a multi-method study in five cities in Australia, England, Ireland and the US. This entailed 480 hours of observation, as well as 71 semi-structured interviews with police officers and detainees. Aside from filling in the gaps in the existing research, this book makes a significant contribution to debates about the links between police practices and neoliberalism. In particular, it examines the police, not just the prison, as a site of neoliberal governance. By combining the empirical with the theoretical, the main themes of the book are likely to be of utmost importance to contemporary discussions about police work in increasingly unequal societies. As a result, it will also have a wide appeal to scholars and students, particularly in criminology and criminal justice.