Abstract
This article shows that innocent suspects benefit from exercising their right to silence during criminal proceedings. We present a model in which a criminal suspect can either make a statement or remain silent during police interrogation. At trial, the jury observes informative but imperfect signals about the suspect's guilt and the truthfulness of the suspect's statement. We show that a right to silence benefits innocent suspects by providing them with a safer alternative to speech, as well as by reducing the probability of wrongful conviction for suspects who remain silent with and without a right to silence.
Disciplines
Criminal Law | Criminal Procedure | Economics | Human Rights Law | Law and Economics | Public Law and Legal Theory | Social Welfare Law
Date of this Version
November 2011
Recommended Citation
Shmuel Leshem, "The Benefits of a Right to Silence for the Innocent" (November 2011). University of Southern California Legal Studies Working Paper Series. Working Paper 83.
http://law.bepress.com/usclwps-lss/art83
Included in
Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Economics Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, Law and Economics Commons, Public Law and Legal Theory Commons, Social Welfare Law Commons
Comments
Published in 41 Rand J. of Economics 398 (2010).