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Reforming Confession Law British Style: A Decade Of Experience With Adverse Inferences From Silence, Mark Berger

Faculty Works

In response to problems encountered in the administration of justice in Northern Ireland, the British government issued the Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1988 changing the character of how the right to silence and privilege against self-incrimination would apply in criminal justice proceedings occurring within Northern Ireland. In general terms, the Order provided that suspects under interrogation and criminal defendants at trial would be subject to adverse inferences if they failed to answer police questions or refused to testify in court. The Order included some qualifications on when and how adverse inferences would be used, and provided that such use …