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The European Court of Human Rights has established that the right to remain silent under police questioning and the privilege against self-incrimination applies

by flexie 13y ago

The European Court of Human Rights has established that the right to remain silent under police questioning and the privilege against self-incrimination applies. All over Europe elections are held at least every 4th or 5th year and governments are regularly overthrown, in Italy more often than anywhere else, I think.

philwelch 13y ago
> The European Court of Human Rights has established that the right to remain silent under police questioning and the privilege against self-incrimination applies. Interesting. But the details of that certainly differ from country to country, at least judging from the reaction to James Duane's "Don't Talk To Police" video. For instance, in the UK, if you refuse to answer police questions, statements you make in favor of your innocence can be thrown out because you didn't mention them to the police under questioning. So the "right to remain silent under police questioning" is much weaker in the UK. > All over Europe elections are held at least every 4th or 5th year and governments are regularly overthrown We have elections every other year, so I'm curious why that's considered a point of difference between Europe and the US. The issue is whether the electoral system can effect real change or whether it's fixed by the rich and powerful, e.g. by owning a large chunk of the country's media and continuing to run those and other private businesses while serving as Prime Minister.
- dnautics 13y ago
  it's even more for local positions. To be fully participant in the US government hierarchy (primaries, generals, local, state, federal), you're voting twice a year. Summing up across jurisdictions, the US has something like 5 million discrete elections a year.
- gsnedders 13y ago
  To make my usual point: the UK does not have a singular legal system; England and Wales has a separate legal system to Scotland, which is itself separate to the legal system in Scotland. People frequently claim the English and Welsh legal system is the "UK legal system". For example, when it comes to police questioning, until two years ago, there was no requirement to provide a lawyer under Scots law (though there were various other safeguards, which Google can likely tell you better than I!).
- rmc 13y ago
  Many European countries don't use a first past the past system that seems to be used n usa, resulting in more coalition governments

by flexie 13y ago

philwelch 13y ago

> The European Court of Human Rights has established that the right to remain silent under police questioning and the privilege against self-incrimination applies. Interesting. But the details of that certainly differ from country to country, at least judging from the reaction to James Duane's "Don't Talk To Police" video. For instance, in the UK, if you refuse to answer police questions, statements you make in favor of your innocence can be thrown out because you didn't mention them to the police under questioning. So the "right to remain silent under police questioning" is much weaker in the UK. > All over Europe elections are held at least every 4th or 5th year and governments are regularly overthrown We have elections every other year, so I'm curious why that's considered a point of difference between Europe and the US. The issue is whether the electoral system can effect real change or whether it's fixed by the rich and powerful, e.g. by owning a large chunk of the country's media and continuing to run those and other private businesses while serving as Prime Minister.

dnautics 13y ago
it's even more for local positions. To be fully participant in the US government hierarchy (primaries, generals, local, state, federal), you're voting twice a year. Summing up across jurisdictions, the US has something like 5 million discrete elections a year.
gsnedders 13y ago
To make my usual point: the UK does not have a singular legal system; England and Wales has a separate legal system to Scotland, which is itself separate to the legal system in Scotland. People frequently claim the English and Welsh legal system is the "UK legal system". For example, when it comes to police questioning, until two years ago, there was no requirement to provide a lawyer under Scots law (though there were various other safeguards, which Google can likely tell you better than I!).
rmc 13y ago
Many European countries don't use a first past the past system that seems to be used n usa, resulting in more coalition governments