# Being questioned by the Police in the UK: A suspect's rights

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-questioned-by-the-police-in-the-uk-a-suspects-rights/1024480>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 1, 2025, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-questioned-by-the-police-in-the-uk-a-suspects-rights/1024480 "2025-11-01T17:10:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2025, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-questioned-by-the-police-in-the-uk-a-suspects-rights/1024480/21 "2025-11-03T15:13:05Z")

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> [@Schnitte](#):
>
> In American law, the judge would have to instruct the jurors that they have to disregard the silence at the time of arrest

Is the prosecution in the American case even allowed to mention the timeline of presenting defenses, or that the defendant remained silent about the situation for a day or more? Can they even say “he refused to say anything when arrested”? That seems to stray into the same territory British law covers.

“We can tell you he came up with the alibi a week later, but you must disregard this timeline detail” seems disingenuous.

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