James Duane (professor)
Encyclopedia
James Duane is a Regent University School of Law professor, former criminal defense attorney, and Fifth Amendment expert. He received some notoriety for his "Don't Talk To Police" video of a lecture he gave to a group of law students, which instructs citizens to never talk to police under any circumstances. After gaining mild popularity on sites such as YouTube and Google, his lecture received criticism from a blogger on the neoconservative website, The Weekly Standard.
In support of his "Don't Talk to Police" mantra, Duane cites, among other things that: 1) police have the ability to lie to criminal suspects during questioning, and sometimes employ this tactic; 2) police may have substantial evidence against even innocent witnesses and; 3) individuals convinced of their own innocence may have unknowingly committed a crime which the inadvertently confess to during questioning. This follows the reasoning of Justice Robert Jackson in Watts v. Indiana
.
He has also written about what he views to be bizarre legislative drafting error
s in the Virginia Statute on Privileged Marital Communications as well as issues involving the introduction of hearsay evidence at trial (known as "bootstrapping
").
In support of his "Don't Talk to Police" mantra, Duane cites, among other things that: 1) police have the ability to lie to criminal suspects during questioning, and sometimes employ this tactic; 2) police may have substantial evidence against even innocent witnesses and; 3) individuals convinced of their own innocence may have unknowingly committed a crime which the inadvertently confess to during questioning. This follows the reasoning of Justice Robert Jackson in Watts v. Indiana
Watts v. Indiana
Watts v. Indiana, , was a U.S. Supreme Court in which Robert H. Jackson famously opined that "To bring in a lawyer means a real peril to solution of the crime because, under our adversary system, he deems that his sole duty is to protect his client -- guilty or innocent -- and that, in such a...
.
He has also written about what he views to be bizarre legislative drafting error
Legislative drafting error
Drafting errors sometimes occur in legislation. Usually these errors are minor, such as incorrect punctuation or capitalization, and the meaning is unaffected. But sometimes the matter is more substantive....
s in the Virginia Statute on Privileged Marital Communications as well as issues involving the introduction of hearsay evidence at trial (known as "bootstrapping
Bootstrapping (law)
The bootstrapping rule in the rules of evidence dealt with admissibility as non-hearsay of statements of conspiracy in United States federal courts...
").