| 释义 |
confession
n. An admission, in whole or in part, by an accused person of his guilt. A confession is defined in section 82 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) as any statement wholly or partly adverse to the person who made it, whether made to a person in authority or not and whether made in words or otherwise. At common law, confessions were admissible if made voluntarily, i.e. not obtained as a result of some threat or inducement held out by a person in authority (such as a police officer). They are now governed by section 76 of PACE, which requires the prosecution, if called upon to do so, to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the confession was not obtained by oppression of the person who made it or as a result of anything that was likely to render the confession unreliable. A confession may also be ruled to be inadmissible under section 78 of PACE if it appears to the court that, having regard to all of the circumstances, including the circumstances in which the evidence was obtained, the admission of the evidence would have such an adverse effect upon the fairness of the proceedings that the court ought not to admit it (as, for example, where a suspect has wrongfully been denied access to legal advice). |