Term Paper on "Citizens of the United States"

Term Paper 10 pages (3817 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

With the popularity of criminal investigation films and television shows, Miranda Rights have been plastered all over the screen. This has falsely provided many Americans with the idea that they understand what the Miranda Rights actually are based on how they are portrayed in film and television. Thus, Rogers et al. (2010) suggests that "inundated with television images of police arrest and Mirandized suspects, most Americans believe they know their Miranda Rights," (301). However, in real application, many show clear confusion that helps to mislead custodial suspects about the true nature of their actual rights. It is not the fault of law enforcement that there are such misunderstandings, but rather the skewed portrayal by the media and the lack of programs that provide more truthful and reliable information to citizens before arrests are made.

Additionally, there is the strong misconception that remaining silent will actually prove detrimental later in court. Essentially, suspects are often afraid to actually use their right to remain silent because of misconceptions that that silence will be used against them in court to imply some sense of guilt. Here, Rogers et al. (2010) stated "about 30% to you silence, by itself, as incriminating evidence. A much smaller number (9.4%) believes their silence will be punished via retaliatory actions with police handling on the charges" (308). Many suspects have the misconception that remaining silent or asking for counsel immediately suggests some sort of guilt. When such discriminatory practices are believed by suspects, many will actually waive their Miranda Rights in order to try to save themselves from looking guilty later in court. This clearly suggests "a frequently erroneous assumption that may diminish counsel's motivation to investigate Miranda waivers and may implement court rulings on the validity of such waivers" (Rogers et al., 2010, p 300). This creates a huge problem where individuals begin self-incriminating themselves unintentionally in order to try to save themselves later on. Really, they need to remain silent and allow their counsel to make such legal decisions for them.

In relation to this, other research has discovered that innocent suspects are more likely to waive their Miranda Rights and thus put themselves unknowingly endanger of self-incriminating them selves for crimes they did not actually commit. Kassin and Norwick (2004) conducted a study where participants were either innocent or guilty of a mock crime and then were put under interrogation by detective prompting them to waive their Miranda Rights. Surprisingly, the participants who were innocent were much quicker to waive their Miranda Rights, believing that their innocence would be strong enough to protect them from any of their dialogue being construed as potential evidence to show their guilt. Here, the research suggests that "naively believing in the power of their innocence to set them free, most waive their rights even in a hostile detective condition, where the risk of interrogation was apparent," and there interrogation dialogue could have easily been used against them to bring charges for crimes they did not commit (Kassin & Norwick, 2004, p 211). Often times, innocent people speak freely with police based on their assumed belief that they are not guilty. However, this can leave them vulnerable because statements they make can later be used to show theories of guilt. Moreover, Kassin and Norwick (2004) illustrated that suspects with no prior criminal justice experience are more likely to waive their Miranda Rights than those suspects who have had dealings with the law before. In a sense, suspects may find a false sense of innocence that they're trying to persuade officers for their own benefit. However this false sense of innocence is not going to protect them as well as they may believe, and their refusal to invoke their Miranda Rights can only lead to potential harm in compiling a case against them, even if they are truly innocent.

In reality, researchers discovered that many detectives and law enforcement agents often use the same aggressive techniques to seek a suspect to waive their Miranda Rights just as they would to prompt a suspect provide a confession. As such, such aggressive tactics can often lead for incriminating evidence against suspects who are actually innocent. There are even training modes for police enforcement, like those in California, where officers are "specifically trained in how to get suspects to talk outside Miranda-- even after they have invoked their rights," which often result in off the record disclosures that helped prompt new turns investigations, although they cannot be used within the actual case against the suspect (Kassin & Norwick, 2004, p 212). In this sense, police can use information provided by a suspect after they have invoked their Miranda Rights to find physical evidence, names of witnesses, and identities of other individuals involved in the crime. This creates a situation where the suspect is no longer protected, even though he or she has invoked their Miranda Rights. This evidence can lead to strengthening of a case against a suspect, and is thus clearly incriminating. Kassin and Norwick show that in many instances physical evidence gathered in such questionable circumstances is not always suppressed. A number of cases show how law enforcement has attempted to circumvent Miranda statutes. For example, in Berghuis v. Thompkins (2010), the court ruled that any information or voluntary statements made by a suspect after they invoked their Miranda Rights is still admissible in court and can be seen essentially interpreted as a waiver of Miranda Rights. According to the Court, the suspect did not make an unambiguous statement that he was invoking his rights, which then led to conversations after being admissible in court (Berhguis v. Thompkins 2010). Thus, there are loop holes within the system that allow law enforcement to use loop holes to still find ways to prove guilt, even after the suspect has been informed and invoked their Miranda Rights.

However, modern policies often allow such tactics to exist, clearly showing huge gaps within the effectiveness of Miranda Rights Legislation. Even more troubling, is the fact that law enforcement agencies do not have to facilitate the suspect getting to his or her counsel. In fact, the research suggests that "the police are not obliged to inform a suspect to is waived his Miranda Rights that his lawyer had either attempted to reach him or has instructed the police not to question the suspect in the absence of counsel," (Frumpkin & Garcia, 2003, p 5). This creates a situation where the suspect can be left under the pressure of interrogators; even after the lawyer has arrived to help provide the suspect with the type of information and advice here she may need to avoid any potential self-incrimination. This allows law enforcement to continue to add stress on to suspects in order to try to pressure them to rethinking the invocation of their Miranda Rights. If a suspect is unclear about the nature of Miranda Rights and how law enforcement has strategies to try to work around them, that suspect might be incredibly vulnerable to aggressive and coercive police tactics, even after he or she has invoked their Miranda Rights.

This situation gets even more complicated when dealing with some of the most vulnerable populations within society. Juveniles are incredibly vulnerable due to their lack of understanding and experience of the legal system. Thus, they are one of the most vulnerable populations that do not understand the true nature and extent of their Miranda Rights. In many instances, juveniles tried as adults have serious misunderstandings of their Miranda Rights because of their experience as being tried as children, and thus in civil proceedings rather than criminal courts. According to the research, "the juvenile justice system was founded on the notion that youthful offenders require special protection because of their developmental vulnerabilities," (Goldstein, 2004, p 360). This meant that many juvenile offenders were not brought to criminal proceedings, but rather handled within civil proceedings and special juvenile courts. This helps protect juvenile offenders, but when these juveniles are tried as adults that protection often goes out the window. Juveniles tried as adults may not understand the true nature of their Miranda Rights, and thus may have misconceptions that lead to incriminating evidence being able to be brought against them within a criminal court case. Thus unfortunately, "because of juveniles intellectual and emotional immaturity, they are at increased risk for poor comprehension and false confession (i.e., admitting to the commission of crimes they did not commit)" (Goldstein et al., 2004, p 360). The truth is, many juvenile offenders may not know what their right to remain silent even means. In other cases, they are even more severely influenced by the media's representation of Miranda Rights, and may choose to waive them because of an assumed perception that it makes them look even guiltier. In any circumstance, juveniles are more vulnerable to misunderstanding and misinterpreting the protections guaranteed within their Miranda Rights. Yet,… READ MORE

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