Obtaining a conviction – confession-based criminal justice systems 10. There is a consensus among international experts that it is in the period immediately after someone is deprived of their liberty that the risk of torture and ill-treatment is greatest.16 In most criminal justice systems, this will usually be at the investigation stage, when an individual is deprived of their liberty for questioning by the police. At this stage, the police will be seeking evidence of who committed the crime, with a view to providing the justice system with evidence for prosecution and conviction. Significant challenges arise for the prevention of torture when criminal justice systems rely heavily on confessions – whether as an entrenched practice or because of a lack of police training and resources to pursue legitimate and effective forms of investigation. In justice systems that rely heavily on confessions as evidence, police are incentivized to obtain a confession or extract information by any means, including by torture or other ill-treatment. The incentive to obtain evidence through torture is perpetuated when the system allows that evidence to serve as the basis for a conviction, effectively validating torture and other ill-treatment as a means of investigation. Furthermore, the use of trial-waiver systems, where suspects admit guilt and waive their right to a trial in exchange for some form of benefit, incentivizes police to rely on suspects confessing guilt to close criminal cases, whilst at the same time waiving their rights to challenge evidence in a trial process. 11. There is a direct correlation between reliance on confession evidence and the incidence of torture.17 The ability to gain a conviction through confession evidence provides a clear incentive for investigating authorities to coerce suspects into confessing to a crime, including through the use of torture. According to Juan Mendez, former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UN Special Rapporteur on Torture): “Coerced confessions are, regrettably, admitted into evidence in many jurisdictions, in particular 16 17 14 UN Commission on Human Rights, Sixtieth Session, Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, (2004), E/CN.4/2004/56/Add.2, para. 60. Richard Carver & Lisa Handley (eds), op. cit., note 13, p.78.