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Confessions in the Criminal Process
Author(s) -
Ho Hock Lai
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the modern law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1468-2230
pISSN - 0026-7961
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2230.12571
Subject(s) - voluntariness , dimension (graph theory) , process (computing) , politics , set (abstract data type) , epistemology , criminal investigation , criminal law , sociology , law , political science , criminology , philosophy , computer science , mathematics , pure mathematics , programming language , operating system
This article undertakes a theoretical exploration of the roles that confessions can play in the criminal process and of the importance that is placed on their voluntariness. It draws on contemporary and historical sources, as well as materials from different legal systems and traditions. Three possible perspectives on the topic are identified: the moral, the epistemic and the political. Adopting each of these perspectives in turn, I set out three distinct dimensions of confessions in the criminal process. In my account of each dimension, voluntariness is construed in the light of a particular understanding of confessions that is conceptually tied to a particular understanding of the criminal process. The conclusion remarks on the interplay of the three dimensions.