Originally Posted by
Schwinnhund
Actually, unless you are doing it voluntarily, answering a Police Officers questions without having your attorney present, or having been informed of your rights under the 5th Amendment does violate your rights under U.S. law. In U.S. Society, your rights do not get 'checked' at the front door just because you are in public. And as far as the law is concerned, violating your 5th Amendment rights is the same as going through your pockets without a warrant, or pursuant to an arrest.
Have they just completely dispensed with teaching Civics in schools anymore********** This is all stuff I learned in 7th grade.
Okay, first you want to parse my comment by inserting "voluntary"; CLUE FOR YOU -- NO ONE, UNDER ANY LEGAL CIRCUMSTANCE, CAN BE REQUIRED TO SPEAK ABOUT ANYTHING AGAINST THEIR WILL; I can SHUT UP at any time I choose, and they'd have to break out the waterboard (ILLEGAL) to change that. So "voluntary" goes on the trash heap.
If anyone is DUMB enough to say something to a cop THAT INCRIMINATES THEM IN A CRIME, then I'd file that under "Darwin". Just speaking to a cop doesn't violate the 5th. Nice try, but trash heap once again. (And as far as going through my pockets, good luck getting your fingers back, I don't care WHO you are; BTW, post-arrest search has been standard for longer than JFK's legacy, too....)
I DIDN'T SAY your RIGHTS get checked at the door, I said your "PRIVACY"; the only privacy protected by the Constitution is the right against "unreasonable search and seizure". What you say and do, that you don't want someone else to react to, needs to be done in your home. Once in public, your conduct is in the public domain, and open to society's judgment -- legal, ethical, moral, acceptable.
If YOU didn't learn that in your Civics class, then you failed.