There’s also the supreme court ruling a bit ago that weakened the right. Changed it from something you can simply do to something you need to invoke.
Simply remaining silent does not invoke your right to remain silent, you must state that you wish to not speak. This applies before you’re read your rights and arrested. So without ever being told your rights or that you can leave at any time, silently refusing to answer questions can be used as evidence against you. Look nervous when the police ask if shell casings found at a murder scene would match a gun you own? That can be used as evidence of guilt, along with your choice not to answer the question.
Coupled with police being able to lie to you more than a lot of people believe, it’s possible to remain silent, say “I should probably have a lawyer for this” (note how that’s not actually a request for legal counsel, just an observation), and for the police to imply that this has stopped the interrogation (“alright, I’ll go do the paperwork. I’ll send someone in to sit with you, can’t leave people unsupervised”).
A lot of people have difficulty not chatting with someone who’s been presented to them as a neutral party, particularly if they think there’s no harm to it.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 day ago
People try and talk their way out of it and dig a deeper hole. For example, what I imagined happening with that Briton arrested for carrying a garden trowel:
“But that tool is sharp, right?” “A bit” “If someone attacked you, would you stab them with it?” “Probably” “You’ve just admitted to carrying an offensive weapon. Accept this caution or we’ll escalate this further”
lka1988@sh.itjust.works 22 hours ago
My first thought would be to just act stupid in that specific situation and straight up lie out of my ass:
Of course, this also has a high likelihood of backfiring
Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 11 hours ago
I feel like my automatic response to that would be “that’s a really weird question to ask”
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 19 hours ago
This is why solicitors typically recommend you say “no comment”
Jankatarch@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
I would start panicking as soon as they ask me to write down my name.