PSYC 3600 Chapter 1: Canada Right to Counsel: Confessions of Dangerously Unrepresented Minds

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 3600
• Professor: Timothy Moore

Document Summary

The supreme court of canada ruled that the right to counsel is a one-time-only opportunity. In a 5-4 decision, the majority in r. v. sinclair held that the essential purpose of the right to counsel is informational rather than protective: sinclair had been arrested for murder. After being advised of his right to counsel, he had two 3-minute telephone conversations with his lawyer prior to a police interrogation that lasted 5 hours and was denied repeated requests for further consultation with counsel. The numerous dna-exonerated defendants who had confessed belie this claim. The eid te(cid:272)h(cid:374)i(cid:395)ue ta(cid:272)ti(cid:272)s a(cid:396)e ofte(cid:374) su(cid:272)(cid:272)essful i(cid:374) e(cid:454)t(cid:396)a(cid:272)ti(cid:374)g (cid:858)t(cid:396)ue(cid:859) (cid:272)o(cid:374)fessio(cid:374)s f(cid:396)o(cid:373) guilt(cid:455) suspects, but the same tactics are at risk for producing false confessions from innocent suspects. There is no scientific basis from which to conclude that the reid approach is reliable and diagnostic. Interrogators are trained to believe that their intuitions about deception are trustworthy when, in fact, they are not.