We have all seen the cop shows on TV and we all probably know the Miranda rights nearly by heart because of those shows. You have the right to remain silent; You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you. Ironically it seems that when these rights matter most, we tend to forget they apply to us and not just the crooks on TV. Ron White may have said it best in his monologue, "I had the right to remain silent, but I didn't have the ability." One of the things I see most often is criminal clients voluntarily helping the cops build a case against them.
Growing up we all had parents that knew a lot more about getting into trouble then they obviously let on to us. They seems to know who broke the lamp in the living room and the old "the dog did it" alibi never seemed to work. They seemed to always be one step ahead. Eventually they taught us that if we cooperate and simply come clean we would get in less trouble then if we did not. So, usually we would simply admit our wrong doing and settle for a week of grounding instead of two. Sadly, this idea works well in the teenage suburbia homestead, but it does not translate to the real world.
Case in point, 19 year old kid gets stopped for speeding, he has marijuana in a backpack on the floor board of the back seat. Officer writes the ticket, hands it to the kid, and simply asks, "is there anything else I should know about?" before walking back to his car ready to pull over the next unsuspecting victim. A good honest kid, will likely feel a little bit guilty and may, as I have seen too many times before, tell the cop about the weed in the backpack. He will then be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor offence facing jail time, a substantial fine, and a license suspension here in Texas. On the other hand, a dishonest kid, who possibly has a checkered past, will not think twice, will keep his mouth shut, and will be on his merry way.
This does not hardly seem fair. The honest kid who does what every parent tries to teach their children, comes clean and cooperates to the fullest, gets the worst of it and faces serious consequences all while the dishonest kid gets away. It does not seem right. The legal system does not reward honesty, it incarcerates it, while the guilty go free?
Please do not misunderstand my message. I am certainly not telling you to teach your kids to lie to the cops or not cooperate. Remember, same scenario for both kids. Both kids are technically guilty, but only the kid who tells the cop about the weed gets in trouble. The kid who keep his mouth shut stays free. If you look back I said the honest kid MAY come clean, he also MAY keep his mouth shut, and go on his merry way. This is what he should do.
It is important to teach our kids honesty, truthfulness, and all of these great and honorable qualities. But it is equally important to teach them their rights. They do not need to learn after they are in jail and talking to an attorney all they had to do was keep their mouth shut and they would not be here. They need to KNOW that, now.
Do not wait for the cops to tell you your rights, just shut the hell up. Do cooperate, but make them do their job. They will NOT go easy on you if you make it easy on them. The consequences and likely the outcome will be the exact same whether you cooperate and tell the cop where the weed is, or if you make him bring out a drug dog, sniff the car, and then he searches it and finds it all on his own. Besides, usually it is not even up to the cops to "go easy on you," it is up to the DA's office and they do not care that you did the cops job for them. They only care that you made their job easy too and they sure as hell are not going to give up an easy "win" because you were stupid.
Bottom line: You have the right to remain silent. Use it!
I know someone who once was pulled over, super early - sun almost up - DRUNK off her butt, but the only ticket(s) she got was for failure to stop at a stop sign (or whatever it is called) and failure to update her address on her drivers licence>>>she had empty bottles of beer on the back floor board. She would of gotten away with the drivers license thing is she was with it enough to point out she was in college and in between housing - but she was drunk! I LOL often thinking of this story and am just glad she made it out alive to tell the story. The only way she knew what town she had made it to (o, did I mention she was lost) was because of the ticket - guess it had the name of the town on it. SO here's a question, how do we teach our children it's OK to not tell "all" AND make sure they stay safe from idiots who want to take advantage of young children? This is such a fine line.
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