PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984)
Definition
UK legislation governing police investigative powers, including the code of practice requiring audio (and later video) recording of police interviews, a reform driven partly by the disputed handwritten interview records in the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four cases.
- Jurisdiction
- England and Wales
- Enacted
- 1984
- Key reform
- Mandatory audio, later video, recording of police interviews
- Driven partly by
- Birmingham Six and Guildford Four miscarriages
Common questions
What specific failure in the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four cases prompted the recording requirement?+
Convictions rested partly on disputed handwritten interview notes that defendants said misrepresented what they had said, with no independent record to check them against. Mandatory recording removed that single point of failure by creating a verifiable account of the interview.
Does PACE apply outside England and Wales?+
No. Scotland and Northern Ireland operate under separate criminal procedure legislation, so a document examiner or investigator working across UK jurisdictions cannot assume PACE codes of practice apply uniformly.
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