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.
So… How would a requirement to testify be enforced? If witnesses were thrown in jail for not testifying, couldn’t cops use that to threaten a “witness” into making a false statement?
How would you tell a witness who was hiding something from a witness who didn’t see anything?
The prosecution generally does not call recalcitrant witnesses because they make bad ones.
How would you tell a witness who was hiding something from a witness who didn’t see anything?
Corroborating evidence. If multiple people say “yeah Jimmy saw the entire thing”, that’s how you know. The lawyers can’t just say “we think @savvywolf@pawb.social was there so they have to testify.” Mostly because you’d make a terrible witness for the prosecution (or the defense).
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.”
