What are your rights when being interrogated by a lawyer?

Answer 1

Your Rights (England And Wales)When you are arrested and taken to a police custody suite, you will have your detention authorised by a custody Sergeant. Once this is done you will be given three main rights:

* You have the right to free independent legal advice on the phone and/or in person. No cost will be incurred by you and a local solicitor firm will be used unless you elect to have your own solicitor to represent you.

* You have the right to have someone notified of your arrest. This will likely be a person that would be concerned for your welfare and the police will call them for you and disclose your arrest

* You have a right to read the PACE codes of practise book (for details check it on amazon) which is a book governing police powers and procedures for how you should be treated whilst in custody.

All these rights are ongoing which means that you can elect to use them immediately or at any other point whilst in custody and the police will have to comply. There are certain circumstances where 1 or all of these rights can be delayed (though never denied forever) and this would have to be authorised by an Inspector. It's rare that this will happen and is done only if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that giving you any of these rights could interfere with the investigation including evidence gathering and witness intimidation.

Of course there are other basic rights you can expect such as food, drink and a telephone call (though there is no requirement for the phonecall to be carried out without delay, unlike the other three rights). You may ask for a doctor and this will, unless deemed not needed, be done for you. You may also request an interpretor if you feel you'll need one to understand what's being said to you though in practise the police will likely call one without you needing to ask. Exercise will be granted when it can be accomadated. A pen and paper is also a right that should be given though you may be under supervision if you ask for this (incase you use the pen as a weapon on yourself or staff). A shower will be provided if you've been in long enough and religious text will be provided if needed.

There are other rghts that you are entitled to, ALL rights being detailed in the PACE codes of practise book. The top three are the most important rights though and will be read to you as soon as you enter the custody suite.

Answer 2

Depends on the country. In places like Burma, you can be in a sticky situation!