Miranda Warnings: Custodial Interrogation

Upon placing a suspect under arrest and prior to conducting a custodial interrogation in regards to the offense or offenses they have been arrested for, the suspect must be read their Miranda Warnings. The first part of the Miranda Warnings is “you have to right to remain silent”, which means that per the Fifth Amendment, you do not have to answer any interrogational questions in which you are a witness against yourself. The second part of the Miranda Warnings is “anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law”. This warning is advising the suspect that anything they say “can” and “will” be used against them during the adjudication process (Miranda Warning, u.d.). The third part of the Miranda warnings is “you have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you”. This …show more content…
For those that cannot afford to pay for their own counsel, “a lawyer will be provided without cost” (Hall, 2015, p. 474). Many agencies train their men and women to ensure the suspect understands every Miranda Warning prior to going on to the next one. Some agencies also have the arrestee sign a form that has the Miranda Warnings written on them after they are read to them as well (U.S. Constitution, u.d.). The warnings must be read to a defendant who is in custody and are going to be interrogated (Hall, 2015). The reason why they must be read is because of the Miranda v. Arizona ruling where the Court ruled that these rights are not presumed to be known by the suspect, so they must be advised of them prior to questioning. When I worked the road, I made it part of my arrest procedures to “Mirandize” a person as soon as I placed him or her under arrest. I also ensured that the Miranda Warning was read to the suspect when my in-car camera was recording so that I had audio evidence of me Mirandizing them. I