KEY POINTS:
Justice Minister Simon Power is looking into the right to silence to see if one of our oldest legal rights needs changing to secure more convictions against child abusers.
In England people have the right to silence but the fact that they refused to speak to police can
be used against them in a trial.
In New Zealand suspects also have the right to silence but jurors cannot draw any inferences from this.
The high-profile Kahui case - in which the family closed ranks and refused to speak with police following the deaths of 3-month-old twins Chris and Cru Kahui - triggered much debate about the right to silence and whether it was time to be reviewed.
Prominent Auckland lawyer Kevin Ryan, who died last month, shocked colleagues when he retired in 2006 by saying he thought the right to silence was outdated and should go.
Referring specifically to the Kahui case, Mr Ryan said the refusal by relatives to speak to police was assisting evil "just by sitting there and not answering questions".
"I did not subscribe to the divine right of silence. Those rules were promulgated years ago in Great Britain when the public were uneducated, most of them illiterate."
New Justice Minister Simon Power said the issue was one that did "interest the Government" and he had already had an initial look into whether something needs to be done.
"There's been some broad work done in that area and I've had an initial scope of it but nothing more at this stage. It's certainly something that's on the work programme."
Police officers have mixed views on whether removing the right to silence would change anything.
"We need people's co-operation at the end of the day and changing the law doesn't necessarily bring it in," said one experienced child abuse investigator.
The officer, who did not want to be named, said even with changes to the right to silence there was nothing to guarantee that suspects or family members would tell the truth or that they won't change their story later on.
That already happens in cases where people admit to abuse but later in court retract the statement, saying they were pressured by police to make the confession.
