Interrogating justice: A critical analysis of the police interrogation andits role in the criminal justice process

In recent years the Canadian criminal justice system has been plagued by a number of high profile wrongful convictions. While each of these cases has raised serious questions concerning the justice process as a whole, particu lar attention has been directed towards the police and their ability to sat isfy their dual mandate of investigating crime while protecting the interes ts, rights, and freedoms of the accused. One notable aspect of police opera tions that has come under increasing scrutiny in this regard is the police interrogation, a practice which is both upheld by police officers as a cruc ial means of gathering information and disposing of cases, and denounced by civil rights advocates as a serious threat to the standards of fairness an d due process. In adopting the polite interrogation as its object of study, this paper will argue that each of these characterizations are severely li mited, and ultimately, misrepresentative of the more subtle functions of in terrogative practices. Specifically, drawing upon the research literature i n Britain. the United Slates, and Canada, the police interrogation will be conceptualized as an Interactional medium in which commitments are fashione d to particular criminal identities and renditions of events in a manner th at seeks to confirm and legitimate official police narratives. The implicat ions of this constitutive, rather than merely coercive, function of the int errogation will be examined with particular attention to the issues of poli ce accountability, and the limits of legislative reform.