The Privilege of Silence


Book Description

This book explains the contours of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in practice, providing a guide for both the civil litigator, as well as the criminal lawyer. The Privilege of Silence organizes the relevant case law so that lawyers may advise and represent their clients by focusing on the practical aspects of Fifth Amendment assertions in all proceedings.




The Privilege Against Self-Incrimination


Book Description

Levy, this history of the privilege shows that it played a limited role in protecting criminal defendants before the nineteenth century.




The Rise and Fall of the Right of Silence


Book Description

Within an international context in which the right to silence has long been regarded as sacrosanct, this book provides the first comprehensive, empirically-based analysis of the effects of curtailing the right to silence. The right to silence has served as the practical expression of the principles that an individual was to be considered innocent until proven guilty, and that it was for the prosecution to establish guilt. In 1791, the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution proclaimed that none ‘shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself’. In more recent times, the privilege against self-incrimination has been a founding principle for the International Criminal Court, the new South African constitution and the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Despite this pedigree, over the past 30 years when governments have felt under pressure to combat crime or terrorism, the right to silence has been reconsidered (as in Australia), curtailed (in most of the United Kingdom) or circumvented (by the creation of the military tribunals to try the Guantánamo detainees). The analysis here focuses upon the effects of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 in England and Wales. There, curtailing the right to silence was advocated in terms of ‘common sense’ policy-making and was achieved by an eclectic borrowing of concepts and policies from other jurisdictions. The implications of curtailing this right are here explored in detail with reference to England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but within a comparative context that examines how different ‘types’ of legal systems regard the right to silence and the effects of constitutional protection.




Privilege and Punishment


Book Description

How the attorney-client relationship favors the privileged in criminal court—and denies justice to the poor and to working-class people of color The number of Americans arrested, brought to court, and incarcerated has skyrocketed in recent decades. Criminal defendants come from all races and economic walks of life, but they experience punishment in vastly different ways. Privilege and Punishment examines how racial and class inequalities are embedded in the attorney-client relationship, providing a devastating portrait of inequality and injustice within and beyond the criminal courts. Matthew Clair conducted extensive fieldwork in the Boston court system, attending criminal hearings and interviewing defendants, lawyers, judges, police officers, and probation officers. In this eye-opening book, he uncovers how privilege and inequality play out in criminal court interactions. When disadvantaged defendants try to learn their legal rights and advocate for themselves, lawyers and judges often silence, coerce, and punish them. Privileged defendants, who are more likely to trust their defense attorneys, delegate authority to their lawyers, defer to judges, and are rewarded for their compliance. Clair shows how attempts to exercise legal rights often backfire on the poor and on working-class people of color, and how effective legal representation alone is no guarantee of justice. Superbly written and powerfully argued, Privilege and Punishment draws needed attention to the injustices that are perpetuated by the attorney-client relationship in today’s criminal courts, and describes the reforms needed to correct them.




Interrupting White Privilege


Book Description

White Catholic theologians have remained relatively silent on the topic of racism since publication in 1979 of the U.S. bishops' statement against racism, Brothers and Sisters to Us. Contributors Jon Nilson, Mary Elizabeth Hobgood, Barbara Hilkert Andolsen, Charles Curran, Roger Haight, Margaret Guider, Margaret Pfeil, and editors Laurie Cassidy and Alex Mikulich all address the issue of white privilege and how it is a significant factor in shaping the evil of racism in our country. Book jacket.




Silence and Freedom


Book Description

"You have the right to remain silent." These words, drawn from the Supreme Court's famous decision in Miranda v. Arizona, have had a tremendous impact on the public imagination. But what a strange right this is. Of all the activities that are especially worthy of protection, that define us as human beings, foster human potential, and symbolize human ambition, why privilege silence? This thoughtful and iconoclastic book argues that silence can be an expression of freedom. A defiant silence demonstrates determination, courage, and will. Martyrs from a variety of faith traditions have given up their lives rather than renounce their god. During the Vietnam era, thousands of anonymous draft resisters refused to take the military oath that was a prelude to participating in what they believed was an immoral war. These silences speak to us. They are a manifestation of connection, commitment, and meaning. This link between silence and freedom is apparent in a variety of different contexts, which Seidman examines individually, including silence and apology, silence and self-incrimination, silence and interrogation, silence and torture, and silence and death. In discussing the problem of apology, for example, the author argues that although apology plays a crucial role in maintaining the illusion of human connection, the right to not apologize is equally crucial. Similarly, prohibition against torture--so prominent in national debate since the events of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib--is best understood as a right to silence, essential in preserving the distinction between mind and body on which human freedom depends.




Silence about Race?


Book Description

Racism has become difficult to name in Europe. Racial semantics are shifting, race is coded in multiple ways and the defense of naturalized privilege is today regularly argued so as to preempt accusations of racism. The possibility to address racism as a particular kind of power formation has become complicated. This volume examines how »race« relates to the operations of social power in particular contexts and what the critical purchase and effectiveness of analytical concepts of racism can be. It combines conceptual reflections with case studies exploring the diverse conjunctures of talking about racism in European countries today.




Youth Justice in America


Book Description

Youth Justice in America, Second Edition engages students in an exciting, informed discussion of the U.S. juvenile justice system and fills a pressing need to make legal issues personally meaningful to young people. Written in a straightforward style by Maryam Ahranjani, Andrew Ferguson and Jamie Raskin – all of whom actively work in the area of juvenile justice -- the book addresses tough, important issues that directly affect today's youth, including the rights of accused juveniles, search and seizure, self-incrimination and confession, right to appeal, and the death penalty for juveniles. Focusing on cases that relate to the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the subject matter comes alive through a wide variety of in-book learning aids.




The Internationalisation of Criminal Evidence


Book Description

An examination of international attempts to develop common principles for regulating criminal evidence across different legal traditions.




The Anatomy of Silence


Book Description

Before #MeToo, there was silence. Let's talk about that silence. The Anatomy of Silence is a collection of voices speaking out loud - often for the first time - about what it means to stay silent, to be silenced, and to break the silence that surrounds sexual violence. About how we are all complicit in creating that silence. It offers an unflinching account of how a culture of shame perpetuates a culture of violence against our bodies--and reflects on what it would take to create a world in which that silence -- once broken -- stays broken.