State v. Brown

New Jersey’s common law privilege against self-incrimination guarantees every person the “right to refuse to disclose ... to a police officer ... any matter that will incriminate him.” N.J.S.A 2A:84A-19; N.J.R.E. 503. Today’s ruling renders that longstanding privilege a hollow right unless one is in police custody or under official interrogation. The majority’s opinion instructs a person facing an impending criminal charge that he first must give his exculpatory account to the police — the very people likely to make a case against him — or else be condemned at trial for not doing so if he…