The civil rights extended to criminal suspects and defendants are of the utmost importance. Both the Constitution and prior court rulings help establish legal protections for those subject to law enforcement scrutiny.
Civil rights help ensure due process and protect people from inappropriate prosecution. Generally speaking, people taken into state custody have certain baseline rights. Those rights include the right to remain silent and the right to consult with a lawyer. People sometimes fail to properly invoke their right to remain silent. While it may seem logical to simply stop talking, doing so does not necessarily protect a defendant.
How do people assert their right to silence?
As mentioned above, simply refusing to answer questions is not the same thing as proactively asserting the right to remain silent. People subject to questioning while in state custody can only end the questioning by verbally notifying the police officers that they intend to make use of their right to remain silent.
Many people invoke the right to remain silent at the same time they inform police officers of their intent to communicate with a criminal defense attorney. Unless defendants in state custody verbally assert their rights, police officers can continue questioning them even though they refuse to answer the questions.
The sooner people assert their right to remain silent, the less likely they are to make mistakes that could complicate their legal situation. Reviewing police officer conduct after an arrest with a skilled legal team can help defendants validate their suspicions that a violation of their rights occurred. Inappropriate questioning can sometimes play a role in a criminal defense strategy.
