James Joseph Duane (born July 30, 1959)[1] is an American law professor at the
Regent University School of Law, former criminal defense attorney, and
Fifth Amendment expert. Duane has received considerable online attention for his lecture "Don't Talk to the Police", in which he advises citizens to avoid
incriminating themselves by speaking to law enforcement officers.
In 2008, Duane gave a lecture at
Regent University alongside
Virginia Beach Police Department officer George Bruch, in which they explain in practical terms why citizens should never talk to police under any circumstances.[4]
Using former Supreme Court Justice
Robert Jackson as support of his "Don't Talk to the Police" advice, Duane says (among other things) that:
Even perfectly innocent citizens may get themselves into trouble even when the police are trying to do their jobs properly, because police malfeasance is entirely unnecessary for the innocent to convict themselves by mistake;
talking to police may bring up erroneous but believable evidence against even innocent witnesses; and,
individuals convinced of their own innocence may have unknowingly committed a crime which they inadvertently confess to during questioning.[5] This follows the reasoning of
Justice Robert Jackson in Watts v. Indiana ("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 capacity, he owes no duty whatever to help society solve its crime problem. Under this conception of criminal procedure, any lawyer worth his salt will tell the suspect in no uncertain terms to make no statement to police under any circumstances." ).[6]
A video of Duane's lecture posted on
YouTube by Regent University has been viewed over 18 million times by 2023, and has been called a "YouTube sensation" by The Independent.[7] In 2016, Duane clarified that his advice does not extend to routine traffic stops.[8] The lecture continues to be popular on YouTube and received support from security expert
Bruce Schneier.[9]
^"James Duane". Amazon. He was born near Buffalo, New York, and is a descendant of Judge James Duane of New York, the first judge appointed to the newly-created federal judiciary by President George Washington in 1789.