Understanding Your Child’s Right to Silence

So, guys, let’s talk a little bit about your child’s right to remain silent in public school. What about that? Just a refresher, my name is Brian L. Jackson, and I’m a Tulsa Fathers’ Rights Attorney here with Dads.Law, where fathers are not disposable. And we’re going to talk about your child’s right to remain silent in a public school setting.

All right, so generally speaking, they do have the right to remain silent, they can refuse to talk to the school. And from a criminal sanction standpoint, that cannot be used against them. Now where it could get a little bit hazy is if you’re talking about a situation where they’re being talked to by a school administrator, not at the behest of law enforcement and not necessarily for the purposes of criminal prosecution.

The school could potentially use that against them for private disciplinary purposes, even though they can’t be criminally prosecuted because you’re talking about two completely separate issues. In a criminal court, the right to remain silent is clear. In a criminal context, it’s clear. It can never be used against you, although it’s important to properly invoke the right.

Properly Invoking the Right to Remain Silent

One thing to teach your kids from a young age, if they’re ever being questioned in that context, they should remember the following phrase, I’m going to exercise my right to remain silent, I’d like an attorney right now. And that’s probably a good way to deal with the school, even if you’re talking about an internal disciplinary matter. Now there may be the fact that they get booted temporarily, because if they’re suspected of doing something that would put the school’s security in jeopardy, they may be told they have to leave. It’s still better than if they end up making some statement that’s used against them in a criminal context. Getting kicked out of school is not the worst thing that can happen to them.

And if they are being accused of something like that, they need to shut up. So it’s a good idea to shut up, to teach your kids early on not to admit to these things, even to the principal or teacher or whomever, because it’s not privileged, it could be used against them, and once it’s out, it’s out. So the best course of action is to shut it, so that there’s no question. You don’t want to get into the whole, do they have to be Mirandized, do they not have to be Mirandized.

Consult with a Lawyer to Protect Your Child’s Rights

I would submit that most likely if you’re being questioned by a school administrator and it is not at the direct behest of law enforcement, they probably don’t have to be Mirandized and if they say something incriminating that the administrator or the teacher turns around and takes to law enforcement, they’re probably shit out of luck, to be blunt, which is why it’s a good idea to shut it and affirmatively invoke your rights. If you have any questions about that, you would want to get with a good lawyer,r and one of the places you can find a good Oklahoma family lawyer is at Dads.Law, where fathers are not disposable.