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Issues Surrounding Miranda Rights

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Issues Surrounding Miranda Rights In 1966, a tremendous verdict from the United States Supreme Court, regarding the case of Miranda v. Arizona, opened to the world and thus would change the way in which police interrogation would forever be delivered. This verdict would ensure that every officer of the law would be required to inform all suspects of their rights as written in the US Constitution and make sure that those individuals understand those rights. The Miranda warning has become the cornerstone of not only judicial proceedings, but also a huge part of pop culture. Through repeated television and the media use, almost anyone can recite the Miranda warning verbatim and then be able to explain some degree of meaning to each part. …show more content…

With the warning also being so common in the media, the actual meaning and representation of the warning is mostly lost to many suspects not fully understanding what its full meaning is. They may not be of sound mind or they may even be too emotional to grasp its meaning that it is their rights to use and exercise. Whatever be the case, the individual’s emotional and mental state plays a huge part in how they comprehend what is going on. In most cases, the reading of the warning is crucial to how the suspect interprets it. If the officer states it angrily, the suspect may be too intimidated to understand that they have been told their rights rather than if the officer were to state it calmly and in a mild tone. Most individuals also come from a background where they do not possess enough familiarity with the law or the Constitution to be able to exercise these rights (Galatzer-Levy & Galatzer-Levy, 2012). Shortly after the Miranda decision came into being, its value questioned as to whether it would be of use to everyday law enforcement. Chief Justice Earl Warren stated that in his opinion concerning the Miranda case, "cases before us raise questions which go to the roots of our concepts of American criminal jurisprudence: the restraints society must observe consistent with the Federal Constitution in prosecuting individuals for crime." The court’s ruling that all interrogations involve the “application of state power” has had the effect that some police officers will go to drastic measures to obtain the confession that they so desire (Zalman & Smith, 2007). The suspect may also decide to waive their rights. Since there is not a standard rule in place regarding the waiver, some states have decided that the best way they can handle it would be to have the suspect sign a waiver form

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