LEGAL ISSUES

Legal Issues

Legal Issues

The Miranda warning

According to Miranda warning that you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law (Shuy, 2000).

The Supreme Court based its creation of the Miranda warnings on the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which specifies that in a criminal case no person can be compelled to be a witness against himself. If the police force confessions through coercive interrogation tactics or environments, they deny the suspect this Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination (Chase, 2008).

Police need not use any precise formula when giving the Miranda warnings, but whatever words they use must effectively warn the suspect of their continuing right to silence and their right to counsel. The warning about the right to silence was intended to inform the suspect that their refusal to talk, at the outset or at any time after the interrogation has begun, would not subject them to penalties (Scheb, 2008).

The Exclusionary rule

The exclusionary rule is a judicially recognized legal doctrine that allows the court, in certain situations, to exclude improperly acquired evidence from a criminal trial. Most often, courts invoke the exclusionary rule when suppressing evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution...” The exclusionary rule also occasionally operates to exclude evidence that results from violations of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments. The Fifth Amendment prohibits forced self-incrimination and mandates (Grisso, 1998).

Some supporters of the exclusionary rule even advocate for its expansion, noting that over time, the U.S. Supreme Court has narrowed the application of the rule such that it now only applies in select situations. Contrarily, those who criticize the exclusionary rule contend that the framers did not expressly or implicitly authorize the suppression of evidence illegally seized by authorities. Moreover, opponents ...