Not Having Your Miranda Rights Read: What You Need To Know

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There's much that you need to know in case you are ever arrested for one reason or another. One of major things that you should be aware of are your Miranda rights. You should make sure that you were read your Miranda rights during your arrest. You should know what your Miranda rights are, when you should have them read to you, and what can happen if you are not read your Miranda rights at all. 

What Are Your Miranda Rights?

The name Miranda comes from the court case Miranda v. Arizona. Essentially, Miranda rights are the rights that an officer of the law must read to you before he or she questions you. If an officer of the law plans on interrogating you, he or she must inform you of a number of things. First, that you have the right to remain silent. Secondly, if you do say anything it can be used against you in a court of law. Thirdly, you have the right to have a lawyer present during any form of questioning. Finally, if you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you if you so desire.

When Should They Be Read?

Having your Miranda rights read to you is not a necessary component of a police officer's job. However, if he or she plans on questioning you, he or she must necessarily read you these rights. That means that a police officer can read you your Miranda rights any time during your incarceration prior to questioning. However, if a person is not in police custody or incarcerated, this means that your Miranda rights do not have to be read to you and anything you have said to a police officer can be used against you in a court of law. You should keep in mind that you do not have to speak to police officers if you have not been arrested.

What Happens When You Aren't Read Your Rights?

This is a very simple and easy question to answer. If a police officer does not read you your Miranda rights, as a result, any questioning performed from the time you were in custody until the time you were out means that this evidence will be inadmissible in a court of law. It does not matter what sort of information you supplied to the police officers. The officers absolutely cannot turn this information over to the court if it has been adequately and sufficiently proven that they did not read you your Miranda rights.

When Coercion Comes Into Play

Miranda rights were, in part, put into place in order to protect the arrested against the inherent coercive nature of police questioning. Essentially, coercion refers to any way in which a police officer may have used extreme ways to coerce a certain bit of information out of you. Not being read your Miranda rights counts as a form of coercion. A suspect may believe that he or she is not in custody due to the fact that he or she has not been read his or her Miranda rights; they might be more pliable to lend the police certain information that they normally would not have been if they knew they were in custody. Statements that are issued under this type of coercion, and other forms of coercion such as psychological distress, are inadmissible. 

Miranda rights are a sine qua non, or necessary component, of a voluntary confession of a suspect. Without a reading of your Miranda rights, you could argue that your confession was involuntary, and it could change the course of your sentencing.

If you have specific questions about Miranda rights or other things that could relate to a criminal defense case, contact a law firm like Clark & Clark LLC.

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27 August 2015

kids being charge with crimes they didn't commit

My son and a group of his friends got in some trouble for trespassing and were arrested. Every one of the boys that were there were charged with trespassing, criminal mischief and vandalism. I contacted all of the other boys' parents and we got together to discuss the situation. After hearing the boys' stories about what happened that day, we knew that we had to hire an attorney to get the boys out of some of the trouble they were in. I have been working on my blog to help other parents that are struggling with the legal system prosecuting their kids for things that they may not have done.