can you use the privilege against self-incrimination in a school?

8 comments

1. Yes. You’re the first person to think of this. You’ve cracked the code.

2. You’d look like a 15 year old bellend and the teachers would laugh about you in the staffroom. You’d be subject to whatever punishment they thought fit.

3. Punishment in school seems to be a law unto itself.

   I did a lot of naughty shit years 8-11, and got punished for pretty much everthing.

   Even when they had little to no evidence (most occasions).

   I’d keep my mouth shut, full 5th amendment, and they’d still think they had reasonable grounds to punish me. (They were right every time, but it was still annoying)

4. You’d be bullied forevermore and known as “the King of Cringe” for the rest of your schooldays.

5. You’ve probably got your ideas from America, where schools generally have very limited powers.

   This in no way applies to the UK, where schools have incredibly far-reaching powers that they basically never use. You can sit around not speaking all you like, but they’re quite able to draw whatever inferences they like from that (and, for reference, the whole not self-incriminating thing doesn’t apply to our criminal law in the same way that it does in the US, either: negative inferences *can* be drawn from your refusal to speak, and you even explicitly get told this when you’re arrested – it’s the “it may harm your defence if you fail to mention when questioned something you later rely on in court” bit), don’t have to meet any particular standard of evidence, and can impose pretty well whatever punishment they feel like for pretty well whatever reason they like.

6. No, the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States does not apply in British schools.

7. We have the privilege against self-incrimination in England and Wales (unsure about Scotland or NI), but there are two things you need to consider:

   – You can’t be compelled to say anything, but your refusal to answer questions can be held against you. This is known as adverse inference.

   – A school’s internal disciplinary procedure isn’t a courtroom. They can use whatever evidential test or standard of proof they like.

8. If you don’t mind being kicked out of the school in order to avoid liability for something actually criminal, and not not doing homework- yes you absolutely can and should stonewall the school.

   You kind of need parents on your side to do this though. In a situation involving 17 YO me having bagged up weed in my bag whilst some revenge porn shit happened in college, they wanted to go through my phone and bag. To this day I have no idea what they thought was in my bag – regardless I just powerwalked past the teachers and kinda nudged one out of the way and just ran straight into a uber.

   It was so fucking dumb. I couldn’t come back to school till after they spoke to my dad. I was willing to leave over this though, zero chance they would have been like “it’s not the revenge porn so don’t worry kid”.

   Anyway I tried to give context because like, yes you can hold the line and say nothing, but they can expell you for being uncooperative.
   They can’t do any more than tell police you were uncooperative if it’s a legal issue though. It is absolutely not proof or an admission of guilt.
   Acknowledging an unwillingness to surrender to school authorities afterwards is your best bet.
   I told the PC that came to the school, “they’re not police since when do they get to confiscate my shit and go through it?”, just got a bollocking there really was none else to do.

   They caught the kids and hilariously expelled the guy doing the revenge porn and the victim. Real fucking head scratcher for the other kids.
   GoneWitDa is back a week later for running out of school, little Timmy’s gone for revenge porn and we kicked out the girl too.
   Why the girl?
   No one really knows. It is worth mentioning that she 100% didn’t leave on her own accord she was also asked to leave.

   Point is – I was not guilty in the schools issue those times, I was not the revenge porn or bully there so when they caught the actual people they backed off me, because as my dad pointed out- why is my kid fleeing in terror from your school when he’s not done anything wrong (that you have any evidence of).

   If your situation resembles this in any way, then yes stonewall them.

   If you’re getting a detention just deal with it bro, not worth playing it like this.