RIGHT TO SELECTIVE SILENCE

Abstract

This study seeks to understand the constitutional guarantee about the right to silence, inscribed in the principle nemo tenetur se detegere, is a right of the prisoner to silence and not self-incrimination, verses on the need to discuss the silence as a Constitutional form of exercising the full defense without prejudice to the accused's situation. We conclude that the right to silence, like the guarantee of self-defense, consists of the obligation that the accused has to know about his right to silence, where it is emphasized that anything he says may be used against himself and the need to guarantee legal assistance, under penalty of nullity, as occurred in the case of Ernesto Miranda. The constitutional guarantee that deals with this right emphasizes that the right of the accused to silence and to not self-incriminate as provided in Article 5, LXIII includes not only the prisoner, but every person subjected to questioning.