Know Your Rights

The constitution is designed to keep the government off the backs of the people. This means that the constitution is intended to make it more difficult for the government to take a citizen away from their family and put them in prison. This is because our founders believed freedom was important, and didn’t believe that the government should be able to take it away easily.

Two rights—the right to remain silent, and the right to be free of unreasonable search—are particularly important to keep in mind.

Constitutional Right #1: The right to remain silent.

How to protect it: Do not speak with police—or anyone else, including family, friends, or counselors—without first consulting an attorney.

Detectives and police officers are trained to get people to say things they don’t mean, or don’t want to say. To make matters worse, their recollection of your statements may be different than your – and make you look guilty when you are not.

There are some circumstances in which it may be to your advantage to talk to police. However, you should always first get the advice of an attorney before deciding whether to be interviewed.

If contacted by police for a statement, ask permission to leave and to talk to an attorney. Do this as many times as it takes.

Your statements to anyone else (besides your attorney) may also be used against you in court.

Constitutional right #2: The right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures

How to protect it: (1) Ask to leave when contacted by police. (2) Do not consent to a search of your person or belongings. (3) Keep private items that you don’t want examined by police.

You have the right not to be held by police when they don’t reasonably suspect you of a crime. You also have the right not to have the police go through your things when they don’t have a warrant. Police will try to make you feel as if you’re hiding something id you want to keep your personal items private.

You don’t have to apologize to anyone for having constitutional rights.