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Re:Fifth Amendment Flowchart by hammock on Thursday October 08, 2015 @09:53AM (#10352732)
It's complicated for government or law enforcement, not for the person being questioned. That's by design- the tests and hoops to jump through are the protection at work. For the questioned it's relatively simple. When questioned, decline to answer and invoke the fifth. If mirandized/in custody, request a lawyer. And then don't say anything else.
Re:Fifth Amendment Flowchart by jbapple on Thursday October 08, 2015 @10:36AM (#10353013)
> It's complicated for government or law enforcement, not for the person being questioned.

I think it's more complex for government, but still complex for the person being questioned. For instance, the chart notes that if you are granted immunity, you cannot leave a form blank or assert your right to remain silent in a blanket fashion.

A second way things are complicated in the Hiibel case, which requires you to speak to the police to say your name.

A third way is that suspects who assert their rights are sometimes treated worse by the police. The US has a storied history of police abuse, including torture (Jon Burge, for one). Occasionally, this is caught on video, and it sometimes seems that the reaction by the police is one of anger. Infuriating the police by asserting your rights may get you some non-judicial punishment, including "contempt-of-cop", in which the police assault you and then charge you with assault via, for instance, bleeding on their uniforms (Henry Davis). In unlucky cases, you may end up dead from "excited delirium", a disease almost exclusively suffered by those in police custody but out of range of video cameras.

Re:Fifth Amendment Flowchart by ceejayoz on Thursday October 08, 2015 @12:02PM (#10353620)
> It's complicated for government or law enforcement, not for the person being questioned.

I'm not sure about that. The government does this all the time - cops will know exactly where the lines are and how to get you to fuck up. They get daily practice in it.

Meanwhile, your average citizen likely doesn't know what the Fifth Amendment means beyond vague stuff they remember from high school, and there's a good chance they really don't know you have to explicitly state you're exercising it.

Re:Fifth Amendment Flowchart by ascagnel_ on Thursday October 08, 2015 @10:00AM (#10352786)
You must also invoke the fifth even if you've requested a lawyer and been Mirandized.
Re:Fifth Amendment Flowchart by talmand on Thursday October 08, 2015 @10:08AM (#10352825)
In context to what you're responding to I must assume, anyway, I'm pretty sure that between the time of requesting your lawyer and that lawyer appearing to advise you then you keep your mouth shut. Refuse to answer any questions until your lawyer is there to advise you. Once the lawyer is present and questioning resumes, you may be advised to invoke the fifth.
Re:Fifth Amendment Flowchart by voxic11 on Thursday October 08, 2015 @11:17AM (#10353288)
Nope, once you have requested a lawyer to be present they cannot question you until you get one (or they get one for you). Of course they never actually go get a lawyer because it's expensive and any lawyer will just instruct you not to answer any questions anyways.