Rights of an accused - the right to silence

Question 1

What protections does the right to silence give the accused?

Answer 1

• the accused has a right to refuse to answer any questions (the one exception related to giving police their name and address if police believe that a person has committed a crime or could be able to assist in an investigation of an indictable offence), and does not have to give any information as part of the investigation of a crime.
• the accused cannot be forced to give evidence in a criminal trial or answer any questions, file any defence, or call a particular witness as part of a trial.

Question 2

What is the right to silence protected by?

Answer 2

Common law and statute law. An example for statute law is the Evidence Act 2008 (Vic) that states that negative conclusions cannot be drawn because a person has failed or refused to answer questions.