5th Amendment

"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

The famous Miranda rights are very important as a person has the right to not say anything at all if confronted with a crime. It is important that a person is able to keep silent to protect oneself. This is a very touchy subject, but I think one could be stuck in a situation and evidences might point to this person being guilty if he/she talks and cooperates. The statement could lead to the judge and jury thinking the person commited the crime whereas he/she just does not have an alibi to demonstrate his/her innocence. And even id the suspect keeps silent, the jury and judge can convict him/her because of evidences if they believe in the guilt.

"School Admin Takes Fifth Amendment in "Peeping Tom" Case

By: David Murphy, 04.18.2010 

Lawyers for Harriton High School sophomore Blake Robbins are claiming that the teenager's school district has used built-in tracking software on students' laptops to take "thousands" of unauthorized images, "including pictures of Blake partially undressed and of Blake sleeping."
The motion, filed April 15 by Michael and Holly Robbins, is the latest salvo in a class-action lawsuit filed against the Lower Merion School District of Ardmore, PA earlier this year. The issue of remote laptop surveillance came to light after school administrators accused Robbins of "improper behavior in his home," based on a photograph that was taken through the school's remote-monitoring software, LANrev.
Around 2,300 students across two schools in the district have received $1,000 Macintosh laptops for use with said software preinstalled and, as allegedly confirmed by one of Harriton's assistant principals, it can be remotely activated at any time, for any reason.
According to the lawsuit, "By virtue of the fact that the Webcam can be remotely activated at any time by the School District, the Webcam will capture anything happening in the room in which the laptop computer is located, regardless of whether the student is sitting at the computer and using it." Consequently, the suit is accusing the school district of violating various federal and state statutes against surveillance and wiretapping, including the federal Electronics Communications Privacy Act. 

From the Associated Press:
Mark Haltzman, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Robbins and his family, said evidence now shows the district used the tracking software for non-authorized reasons — for instance, when students failed to pay the required insurance or return the laptops at year's end. At least once, a name mix-up led the district to activate the wrong student's laptop, he charged.
"Thousands of webcam pictures and screen shots have been taken of numerous other students in their homes, many of which never reported their laptops lost or missing," Haltzman wrote in a motion filed Thursday.
According to Haltzman, technology coordinator Carol Cafiero refused to answer his questions at a recent deposition, citing her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. She and technician Michael Perbix were the only employees authorized to activate the webcams. Perbix did not fight the deposition.
Haltzman called Cafiero a possible "voyeur" and wants access to her personal computer to see if she downloaded any student images. To support the charge, he cited her response to an e-mail from a colleague who said viewing the webcam pictures was like watching "a little LMSD soap opera."
"I know, I love it!" Cafiero allegedly replied.
Her lawyer, Charles Mandracchia, did not immediately return a message Friday, but has said his client did nothing wrong. Cafiero makes $105,000 and Perbix $86,000. Both are on paid leave."

Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362791,00.asp


This is a situation where an accused pleaded the fifth. The public and many other people build their opinion about this person, but nobody knoes what really happened. The court can still order a warrant to search her house and computer. This will show if she has pictures/videos of kids oin there. Maybe the colleague talked about some other webcam pictures that would put the accused in an even worse situation. Still, since everybody has the right to remain silent, the attorney has to find other ways and evidences to prove the guilt.
 



To me this video just right on in how important it is to be able to keep silent. The man shows so many situation where your testimony can be used against you even if you are innocent. To me, I would always wait until I could talk to a lawyer and then talk to the police. The lawyer can assess the situation and tell me what to do.