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Should Police Give Miranda Rights Essay

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We all know our Miranda Rights from TV cop drama or from personal experience.

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one... and so on. There is a popular belief out there that before the police can use anything you say against you, that you must have these rights read to you.

Wrong. In fact, many statements suspects make may be used against them - even if they never received your Miranda Rights! To understand why, you must know why police give Miranda Rights in the first place.

Why Do Police Give Miranda Rights?

Before anything you say can be used against you, the court has to find that you made the statements voluntarily. This is a fundamental protection, grounded in the 5th Amendment, which protects your right against self-incrimination.

Courts don 't want police getting statements by beating, threatening, or in other ways coercing suspects. In an …show more content…

To remedy this reality, and get closer to the ideal mentioned above, the Court required police to advise defendants of their rights to remain silent and to an attorney. In theory, this advisement levels the playing field and dispels the inherent coercive nature of custodial interrogation.

When do Miranda Rights Have to be Given?

Because the purpose of Miranda Rights is to dispel the inherent coercive nature of custodial interrogation, they are only given during custodial interrogation. This means that statements obtained while out of custody, or while in custody but not interrogated can be used against the suspect.

Why? Because the same level of coercion is not present when a suspect is not in custody. Nor is it present if the suspect is not being subjected to interrogation. Because coercion is not present, there is no need to dispel it.

What is custodial

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