You have certain constitutional rights when you are interrogated by police. Police must inform you of these rights. The list of rights they must inform you about are called your Miranda rights.
This guide to your Miranda rights helps you to better understand what these rights are, when police must give you a Miranda warning and what happens if police fail to read you your rights.
What Are Your Miranda Rights?
Your Miranda rights are rights that the police must inform you of when you are detained by police. Miranda rights get their name from the Supreme Court case from which they are derived.
In Miranda v. Arizona, a suspect was interrogated by law enforcement officials in an isolated space for hours. The suspect ended up making admissions of guilt and signing a statement. The Supreme Court also considered several other cases in which a similar series of events occurred. The Court weighed whether law enforcement must ensure that suspects who are being detained and questioned are informed of their rights established in the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The Supreme Court held that defendants did have the right to be informed of certain facts. They must be told:
- They have the right to remain silent
- That anything they say can be used against them in court
- They have the right to an attorney
- If they cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for them
This has come to be known as the Mirando warning, with police usually saying “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?”
However, police do not have to say this exact statement as long as they convey your rights to you.
How Do Your Miranda Rights Protect You?
Police cannot interrogate you unless you waive your Miranda rights. Your waiver must be:
- Knowing and intelligent. You must be aware of your rights
- Voluntary. You must agree to waive your rights of your own accord, not because of police pressure.
- Timely. If you are taken into custody a second time, you must be informed of your rights again and choose whether to speak to police or not at that time.
If you do not wish to speak to police, you can invoke your rights. This involves indicating in any way that you want to exercise the right to remain silent or the right to a lawyer. As soon as you tell police you wish to exercise your right to an attorney, police must stop questioning you until your lawyer is present. Police must also respect your right to remain silent.
You can choose to waive your Miranda rights and answer questions, then invoke your rights at a later point. However, anything you said before you invoke your rights can be used against you.
You can invoke your rights by making clear you wish to remain silent or that you “plead the fifth,” referring to the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which protects against self-incrimination. If your rights are read to you and you do not specifically waive your rights but talk to the police, this is an implied waiver of your rights.
When Do Officers Need to Read You Your Miranda Rights?
Officers must read you your Miranda rights as soon as they plan to interrogate you while you are in custody. Being in custody means that you are not free to leave at any point that you wish.
If you are free to leave or not in custody, police do not need to read you your rights before asking you questions.
Police do not need to read you your rights upon arrest, either, unless they are questioning you. The triggering event that necessitates reading your rights is a custodial interrogation, or questioning that occurs when you are not allowed to leave at will.
What If Police Fail to Read You Your Miranda Rights?
If police do not read you your Miranda rights before a custodial interrogation, any statements you make during that interrogation are inadmissible in court as evidence of a crime.
Although prosecutors cannot present the statements to secure a conviction against you for violating the law, there are circumstances where statements made without a Miranda warning could be introduced in court. In some cases, they could be introduced during the sentencing phase or to call your credibility into question if you give a conflicting statement to the police and in court.
If statements you make without a Miranda warning lead police to discover physical evidence or a witness, it can be used against you, and police can also use evidence they inevitably would have discovered anyway even if they first learned about it through an un-Mirandized statement.
There is also a public safety exception that allows police to question suspects without a Miranda warning when they believe there are weapons that pose a danger to the public..
Get Help From a Criminal Defense Attorney
If you believe police failed to read you your Miranda rights before a custodial interrogation, you should speak with a criminal defense attorney ASAP. Your lawyer can help you to make a compelling argument to convince the court not to allow a prosecutor to use any statements you made during the interrogation.
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Frequently Asked Question (FAQs)
Are Miranda rights still required?
A recent Supreme Court case, Vega v. Tekoh, involved Miranda rights. The court decided they are not a constitutional right, but instead a “prophylactic rule” and that a violation occurs not when police take a statement without reading the warning, but only if a prosecutor introduces a statement made without a warning and the judge admits it. The case also held that a police officer cannot be held personally liable to a criminal defendant for failing to read a Miranda warning.
Who must read the Miranda warning?
Law enforcement officials must give you a Miranda warning prior to questioning you if you are in police custody. Police must inform you of your right to remain silent, of the fact anything you say can be used against you, of your right to an attorney and of your right to have a lawyer provided for you if you can’t afford one. While there’s no specific language police must use, you have to be told of these rights before you can be interrogated in situations where you are not free to leave.
What does it mean to plead the Fifth?
When you plead the Fifth, you exercise your constitutional right not to incriminate yourself. This right is established in the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. You can plead the Fifth if you are being interrogated by law enforcement officials and do not want to provide information that could be used against you in a court of law.
