Re:I spent 22 years in prison for a crime I didn’t commit
by jhauris on Thursday December 05, 2019 @08:43AM
(#21712170)
That benefit seems extremely marginal when the presumption if innocence is the standard.
Your explanation for the UK police caution phrasing makes perfect sense, but I wonder now if it's not meant to scare people into talking?
Re:I spent 22 years in prison for a crime I didn’t commit
by AmericanChopper on Thursday December 05, 2019 @05:07PM
(#21717155)
The presumption of innocence is theoretical at best. A prosecutor will present a theory of the case along with their evidence. Simply undermining that theory is often not enough to convince a jury, they’ll often expect the defence to put forward and substantiate a superior theory.
I don’t know the motives of putting that in the warning. But it is at least true, even if it’s almost universally not a good idea.
Technically this is true. If you make a statement to the police, then that statement can be used as evidence at trial (both against you and in your defence). If you don’t make a statement, then the only way to get your testimony in front of the jury (should that be necessary), is to take the stand, where you will be subjected to cross examination. A process where you (probably not a lawyer) will have to argue with a lawyer who will be doing their best to make you trip over every single thing you say, in front of a jury, for a number of hours.
So while it does potentially have a benefit, it’s still always a bad idea, because you’ll want to see the discovery before you say anything at all.