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How do you feel about the penalties that exist for witnesses who refuse to testify in court? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Do you feel that the 4th amendment should protect them? Or perhaps a new amendment should be written to protect them and abolish power of subpoena?

I'm slightly biased as I ask this. I feel that the mind is "sacred" in a sense, that it should be considered a fundamental human right for an individual to be able to preserve privacy over their internally held thoughts and memories, and that the ability of the court to force an individual to speak or disclose part of their mind is a wild overreach of power and an affront to the personal liberty of the innocent.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Do you feel that the 4th amendment should protect them?

No.

Or perhaps a new amendment should be written to protect them and abolish power of subpoena?

No. In fact I think people who refuse to testify should be held in contempt until they do. If they lie, perjury should be strictly prosecuted.

[T]o force an individual to speak or disclose part of their mind is a wild overreach of power and an affront to the personal liberty of the innocent.

I strongly disagree with the concept that "I was a witness to a rape, but I shouldn't have to tell a court what I saw because my right to shut up is more important than the right of the state and victim to get justice or for the right of the defense to have a fair trial."

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

It's a multi-edged sword. It also means someone could be forced to testify against a friend or loved one, and in a slightly removed example, my beliefs also apply to laws that allow individuals to be imprisoned for failing to provide a password to locked electronics, regardless of whether or not they actually remember it.

Maybe it would be a good middle ground to instead expand the privileges that allow members of a marriage to avoid testifying against one another, to include friends and family. The same reasoning applies, except that the state believes it can determine the strength and meaning of a relationship by its title and type alone.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Maybe it would be a good middle ground to instead expand the privileges that allow members of a marriage to avoid testifying against one another, to include friends and family.

A terrible idea. Corruption, bribery and such things would grow and expand even more than now, and effectively destroy friendships, turning them into bad kinds of dependencies.