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Old 06-13-2007
Diuretic Diuretic is offline
Secretary of Defense

 
Member Since: May 2006
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Posts: 3,021

Australia     United

Re: The definitive Constitutional rights and freedoms comparison thread.

Looks like Eyre Peninsula....??

We don't have a Fifth. What we do have is what we borrowed from the Brits. When a person is suspected of committing an offence a police officer questioning the individual must caution that individual that they don't have to answer questions. If the police officer doesn't do that then a court is very likely to throw out the evidence of the interview from the point where the caution should have been administered. This is done in the absence of a jury, it's called a voir dire hearing.

In court there is a common law right to protect oneself against self-incrimination.
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