You have the privilege to refuse to say anything that will incriminate you, and it extends to both civil and criminal proceedings.
However, barring any privilege, such as the Fifth Amendment, attorney client privilege, work product, etc., you can not refuse to answer questions that are not covered by the privilege.
So, if you are in accident and are sued, you do not have to answer questions about what was in your car trunk at the time if the answer would tend to incriminate you.
However, you would be compelled to answer questions about what color the light was or how fast you were going before the accident.
You can not claim the privilege if it doesnt apply to the substance of your answer. And the Fifth Amendment applies to matters that would incriminate you.
You both seem to be confusing a criminal proceeding with a criminal matter.
While a matter can include a proceeding, when i said “matters” i meant activities.
Substitute “activity” for matter if that makes it clearer. The Fifth amendment applies to criminal activities, and yes, that extends to civil proceedings if it touches upon criminal activity.
But if the statement does not fall within one of the privileges i mentioned above, you can not claim such a privilege- it is inapplicable.
Which leads us back to my post 62:
Kindly address “Admission by Silence” in view of “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
It looks like remaining silent can be used against you and speaking can be used against you
The tension between the right to remain silent and admission by silence has not been addressed as far as I can tell, but that's what I'm concerned with.
I'm also out of time on this end.