- Latest available (Revised)
- Original (As enacted)
Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016
You are here:
What Version
Advanced Features
- Show Geographical Extent(e.g. England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)
- Show Timeline of Changes
Opening Options
More Resources
Changes to legislation:
Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016, Section 32 is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 21 November 2024. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations.
Changes to Legislation
Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. Changes and effects are recorded by our editorial team in lists which can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area. Where those effects have yet to be applied to the text of the legislation by the editorial team they are also listed alongside the legislation in the affected provisions. Use the ‘more’ link to open the changes and effects relevant to the provision you are viewing.
Changes and effects yet to be applied to the whole Act associated Parts and Chapters:
- Act expiry of affecting provision 2022 asp 8, sch. para. 15 by S.S.I. 2023/360 reg. 2(a)
Whole provisions yet to be inserted into this Act (including any effects on those provisions):
- s. 38(7)(a) words renumbered as s. 38(7)(a) by 2024 asp 5 s. 15(6)(a)
- s. 38(7)(b) and word inserted by 2024 asp 5 s. 15(6)(b)
- s. 41(1A) inserted by 2024 asp 5 s. 15(7)(b)
32Right to have solicitor presentS
This section has no associated Explanatory Notes
(1)Subsections (2) and (3) apply to a person who—
(a)is in police custody, or
(b)is attending at a police station or other place voluntarily for the purpose of being interviewed by a constable.
(2)The person has the right to have a solicitor present while being interviewed by a constable about an offence which the constable has reasonable grounds to suspect the person of committing.
(3)Accordingly—
(a)unless the person consents to being interviewed without having a solicitor present, a constable must not begin to interview the person about the offence until the person's solicitor is present, and
(b)the person's solicitor must not be denied access to the person at any time while a constable is interviewing the person about the offence.
(4)Despite subsection (3)(a) a constable may, in exceptional circumstances, proceed to interview the person without a solicitor being present if it is necessary to interview the person without delay in the interests of—
(a)the investigation or the prevention of crime, or
(b)the apprehension of offenders.
(5)A decision to allow the person to be interviewed without a solicitor present by virtue of subsection (4) may be taken only by a constable who—
(a)is of the rank of sergeant or above, and
(b)has not been involved in investigating the offence about which the person is to be interviewed.
(6)For the purposes of subsections (2) and (3), a constable is not to be regarded as interviewing a person about an offence merely by asking the person for the information specified in section 34(4).
(7)Where a person consents to being interviewed without having a solicitor present, there must be recorded—
(a)the time at which the person consented, and
(b)any reason given by the person at that time for waiving the right to have a solicitor present.
Commencement Information
I1S. 32 in force at 25.1.2018 by S.S.I. 2017/345, art. 3, sch. (with arts. 4, 7)
Options/Help
Print Options
PrintThe Whole Act
PrintThe Whole Part
PrintThe Whole Chapter
PrintThe Whole Cross Heading
PrintThis Section only
You have chosen to open the Whole Act
The Whole Act you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.
Would you like to continue?
Legislation is available in different versions:
Latest Available (revised):The latest available updated version of the legislation incorporating changes made by subsequent legislation and applied by our editorial team. Changes we have not yet applied to the text, can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area.
Original (As Enacted or Made): The original version of the legislation as it stood when it was enacted or made. No changes have been applied to the text.
See additional information alongside the content
Geographical Extent: Indicates the geographical area that this provision applies to. For further information see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.
Show Timeline of Changes: See how this legislation has or could change over time. Turning this feature on will show extra navigation options to go to these specific points in time. Return to the latest available version by using the controls above in the What Version box.
Opening Options
Different options to open legislation in order to view more content on screen at once
Explanatory Notes
Text created by the Scottish Government to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Acts of the Scottish Parliament except those which result from Budget Bills.
More Resources
Access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item from this tab. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
- the original print PDF of the as enacted version that was used for the print copy
- lists of changes made by and/or affecting this legislation item
- confers power and blanket amendment details
- all formats of all associated documents
- correction slips
- links to related legislation and further information resources
Timeline of Changes
This timeline shows the different points in time where a change occurred. The dates will coincide with the earliest date on which the change (e.g an insertion, a repeal or a substitution) that was applied came into force. The first date in the timeline will usually be the earliest date when the provision came into force. In some cases the first date is 01/02/1991 (or for Northern Ireland legislation 01/01/2006). This date is our basedate. No versions before this date are available. For further information see the Editorial Practice Guide and Glossary under Help.
More Resources
Use this menu to access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
- the original print PDF of the as enacted version that was used for the print copy
- correction slips
Click 'View More' or select 'More Resources' tab for additional information including:
- lists of changes made by and/or affecting this legislation item
- confers power and blanket amendment details
- all formats of all associated documents
- links to related legislation and further information resources
All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. This site additionally contains content derived from EUR-Lex, reused under the terms of the Commission Decision 2011/833/EU on the reuse of documents from the EU institutions. For more information see the EUR-Lex public statement on re-use.