A Comparative View of the Law of Interrogation

Forty years ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court fashioned the Miranda procedure to safeguard the rights of suspects subject to police interrogation, the procedure and its exclusionary remedy were considered an American novelty. Few countries then required the police to issue preinterrogation warnings, and it was rare for courts to exclude confessions on the grounds of procedural violations. The past forty years have seen significant changes in the criminal justice landscape on the world scene. Today, the concept of preinterrogation warnings is widely accepted, and failure to issue the required warnings in many countries constitutes a ground for exclusion. This article explores the development in the law of interrogation in England, Canada, France, Germany, Russia, and China. The American Miranda procedure is used as a reference point to highlight the similarities and differences between American and other countries' practices.