2. Preliminaries to Prosecution
PACE Codes, cautions and interviews, arrest and detention, prosecutors and the lawful commencement of proceedings.
How to study for BSB Criminal Litigation
Prepare for a closed-book assessment by linking every power, gateway, burden, procedure and appellate route to its place in the criminal case.
Core concepts
Concept 1
PACE and Code C regulate cautioning, interviewing, access to legal advice and safeguards for children and vulnerable or intoxicated suspects.
Exam cue: Separate reasonable suspicion from the necessity or authority required for arrest.
Concept 2
Arrest requires lawful authority and communication of the fact and grounds; detention is controlled by custody officers, records, reviews and time limits.
Exam cue: Identify caution, legal-advice, appropriate-adult and recording requirements before using interview material.
Concept 3
Proceedings may begin through written charge and requisition or summons procedures, with a general six-month commencement limit for summary offences unless legislation provides otherwise.
Exam cue: Match prosecutor and commencement method, then check the applicable summary time limit.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Assuming a failure under a PACE Code automatically ends the prosecution rather than raising admissibility or fairness consequences.
Guardrail: Do not import a current-law change into the assessment merely because it post-dates the syllabus cut-off; use the latest BSB-issued syllabus or amendment for exam scope.
Treating arrest as lawful without communicating grounds as soon as practicable.
Guardrail: Do not import a current-law change into the assessment merely because it post-dates the syllabus cut-off; use the latest BSB-issued syllabus or amendment for exam scope.
Applying the ordinary summary time limit to every offence without checking the governing statute.
Guardrail: Do not import a current-law change into the assessment merely because it post-dates the syllabus cut-off; use the latest BSB-issued syllabus or amendment for exam scope.
Memory anchors
Caution
Give the required caution before questioning where answers or silence may be used in evidence.
Appropriate adult
Additional safeguards apply to children and mentally vulnerable detainees.
Arrest basics
Lawful power, required grounds, communication and proportionate force.
Custody officer
Authorises and reviews detention and maintains the custody record under PACE safeguards.
Starting proceedings
Use the authorised charge, requisition or summons route and verify any statutory time limit.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
Police question a suspect about a burglary after reaching grounds to suspect him, but give no caution. What is the most accurate consequence?
An officer is about to ask questions because she suspects that a detainee committed an offence and the answers or silence may be used in evidence. What should ordinarily happen first?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
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