Potentially dumb question — but wouldn’t refusing to answer questions just make one look more suspicious, which you may especially want to avoid if you haven’t actually done anything wrong?
Lying to the police… or making an innocent mistake that seems like lying on purpose… or even telling the truth when the police misunderstands (or lies about) what you actually said… can get you in jail.
I assume that maybe 5% of people in prisons haven’t done anything wrong… they just were in the wrong place at the wrong time, didn’t have enough money to hire a good lawyer, or made some mistake. This advice is about reducing your chance to become one of them.
Possibly, it depends on the individual cop. However, I think the idea is that if you haven’t done anything wrong and you don’t answer any questions you’re in a better position than if you have done something wrong and the chance that you say something that sounds incriminating and/or the cop is not questioning in good faith.
In other words, the consequences of seeming suspicious with no evidence against you are much better for you than the consequences of saying the wrong thing.
Potentially dumb question — but wouldn’t refusing to answer questions just make one look more suspicious, which you may especially want to avoid if you haven’t actually done anything wrong?
Looking suspicious is not a jailable offense.
Lying to the police… or making an innocent mistake that seems like lying on purpose… or even telling the truth when the police misunderstands (or lies about) what you actually said… can get you in jail.
I assume that maybe 5% of people in prisons haven’t done anything wrong… they just were in the wrong place at the wrong time, didn’t have enough money to hire a good lawyer, or made some mistake. This advice is about reducing your chance to become one of them.
Possibly, it depends on the individual cop. However, I think the idea is that if you haven’t done anything wrong and you don’t answer any questions you’re in a better position than if you have done something wrong and the chance that you say something that sounds incriminating and/or the cop is not questioning in good faith.
In other words, the consequences of seeming suspicious with no evidence against you are much better for you than the consequences of saying the wrong thing.