Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016

Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016

2016 asp 1

Overview of the Act

Part 1 – Arrest and Custody

Chapter 2 – Custody: person not officially accused

Keeping person in custody

Section 13 – Custody review

44. Section 13(1) and (2) provide that where a person has been held in police custody for a continuous period of six hours and has not been charged with an offence, a decision must be made on whether to continue to keep that person in custody. That decision must be made as soon as reasonably practicable after the expiry of the period of six hours which started when the authorisation under section 7 was given. In making that decision, the test set out in section 14 is applied (referred to below). Under section 13(3) the decision must be made by a constable of the rank of inspector or above, who has not been involved in the investigation in connection with which the person is in custody. If the test set out in section 14 is not met, the person may continue to be held in custody only if they are charged with an offence or the person is held under section 28(1A) of the 1995 Act for a bail review. This section also provides that where an arrest has been extended under 11, and if the person remains in custody, that there must be a further 6 hour review after this extension period has begun.