this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2023
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[–] [email protected] 63 points 1 year ago (4 children)

That you can leave the interrogation room any time you want if you're being questioned for a crime.

[–] cheese_greater 78 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

What is the best script to deal with this?

  1. Am I being detained?
  • yes: (I want to Speak to lawyer) --> 1
  • no:
  1. Am I free to go?
  • yes: Go
  • no: --> repeat 1

♾️

No need to go outside this script?

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (3 children)

And then you shut the fuck up

[–] cheese_greater 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ya but they use the human fear of silence/not responding as a lever to get people talking. I feel like you'd be more successfull just sticking to a safe script like this

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cops will find any excuse they want to be assholes. By shutting the fuck up you make your lawyer’s job a lot easier.

Though it’s probably best to say “I an invoking my fifth amendment right to silence” so they know what you’re doing before they beat you and shoot your dog.

[–] cheese_greater 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Im referring more to places where you don't technically have the right to have the lawyer sit in the interview nor is there a hard and fast 5th amendment. Like you don't have to talk but they're basically allowed to verbally pull teeth once a phone call with a lawyer is completed (where they just read "don't say anything" remotely and hang up on you)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm not the person you replied to, but I am confused as to what you mean. You don't have to invoke the fifth amendment in order to not speak with police (the fifth amendment is more used in court), but you always have the right to have an attorney present when speaking with police in the US.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You don't have to invoke the fifth amendment in order to not speak with police

courts have found that simply being silent can be a confession. you must explicitly state you are exercising your right to be silent.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yes, absolutely. You do have to say that. You don't have to expressly invoke the fifth amendment. You have to invoke your right to be silent. These are two separate things.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Which is absurd when the right is to be silent.

[–] Maggoty 2 points 1 year ago

Welcome to the US justice system.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

your right against self incrimination includes a right to be silent. it's not separate: it's inclusive

[–] cheese_greater 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ah, that will do it. Sorry to hear your country doesn't afford the right to have an attorney present. That's at least one thing we've got right here.

[–] cheese_greater 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Your criminal penalties and the severity of the average crime seems to demand such rights.

I will say however, like, sometimes I wish some of our more extreme offenders got charged by the US instead of domestically cuz we don't seriously hold accountable many shockingly extreme offenders who are basically never going to not be an insane risk to the public away for any relevant timeframe, and they almost always get bail

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I don't know where you're from, but I've read plenty of examples of horrific rapists and murderers in other countries getting only a few years of prison time and then being released. That happens here as well, but I very much approve of the more egregious cases being given prolonged sentences. It's not about punishment; it's about protecting the populace from predators.

That said, we really need to reduce most prison sentences here in the US. So yes, we do very much need the law to allow us to have attorneys present when speaking with police because they will nail you for whatever they can get away with.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You have to actively and affirmatively express you want a lawyer and to remain silent for it to count.

Just being quiet or saying something like “I “think” I need a lawyer has been ruled not to count.”

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, that is what I said.

[–] TehBamski 8 points 1 year ago
[–] A_Random_Idiot 38 points 1 year ago (1 children)

speak very basic and plain. don't use coloqualisms, don't use slang, etc.

One guy told a cop "I want my lawyer, dog", and and they never got him one saying there were no dog lawyers, and the courts..of course, backed up the police, in clear violation of common sense and decency.

[–] cheese_greater 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Just pretend they're a computer, same thing with laws. There's a reason it usually called the Tax Code or Criminal Code

Make 'em divide by zero by recursively using that script or the endless WHY loop

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If only they always answered with either just yes or no.

[–] cheese_greater 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

But you can choose to do that confidently with something like this is mind

You just refuse to accept non yes/no answers. Play dumb. So...yes...no...i dont understand

Edit: or just do that kid thing where they ask "Why?" -> Why? -> Why?...

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

Police don't care about your rights though.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This would be really dependant on circumstances, no?

[–] givesomefucks 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Either they arrest you, or they don't.

If they arrest you, they have like 48 hours to charge you. And arresting you early makes everything harder, and cops hate anything remotely difficult

But they can strongly suggest you have to stay, so most people do.

The only reason you're their is so they can gather enough evidence to charge you, even if you're innocent you might answer a leading question wrong.

There's just nothing you can say/do to change a cops mind, and if you're there, it's because they think you did it.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] waz 6 points 1 year ago

Commenting just to draw more attention to this. It's a little long but well worth the watch.

[–] Maggoty 3 points 1 year ago

Except to say you're invoking your right to remain silent. That's apparently very important as the cops and court conveniently forget if you don't say it.

[–] qwertyqwertyqwerty 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think you have to confirm “am I free to go?”, but IANAL.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It'll also largely depend on jurisdiction.

Really, I'd ask for a lawyer and have the lawyer advise you here. A misinterpretation and suddenly you're violently resisting arrest or something.

[–] BigWheelPowerBrakeSlider 9 points 1 year ago

Ask for a lawyer and zip it up. Problem is you're not getting to talk to a lawyer right then and there and will continue to be held at the jail. If you know a private attorney or someone hires one, you might, and that is a big might, get to to speak to them in a few hours, but even so, they are almost certainly not getting you home that day. In my state you get a first appearance before a judge the next day where a probable cause hearing is held and bond/bail is set. That's usually the first time you even see an attorney but often you only get to speak to them sometime after that first court appearance. Especially if the hearing is done by video where the accused is at the jail and the attorney is at the courthouse.

[–] SgtAStrawberry 7 points 1 year ago

I would also guess it depends highly on what jurisdiction is holding you.

[–] dingus 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ehh...this isn't always the case. But you definitely never have to say anything to the police. You just ask for a lawyer and say nothing else. The lawyer will know whether or not they can hold you.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There are some states where you have to tell them your name or they will just book you.

[–] Kase 2 points 1 year ago

NoIWontPickaName

Welp, let's hope you're never in that situation /j (jokes aside, of course, I do hope you're never in that situation)