Police Exception Questions: Miranda V. Arizona

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Final Exam Essay Question #1
Question: What did Miranda v. Arizona ultimately decide and how did it impact police questioning? What is the role of the current public safety exception in terms of Miranda and its use? Be sure to include specific discussions to the original cases and subsequent cases that support when Miranda applies in public safety cases.

Response:

Miranda v. Arizona was a case that focused on four separate court cases that involved custodial interrogations (USC, 2015). Each of these cases involved subjects being questioned by officers in rooms cut off from the general public. The main issue with these interrogations was the fact that none of the subjects were given a full advisory of their rights at the beginning of their …show more content…

Arizona case stated that a criminal suspect must make a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary decision to waive certain constitutional rights prior to questioning (Ortmeier, 2006). These constitution rights consisted of their right to remain silent; to be given an explanation on how anything they say can be used against them; their right to an attorney; and their right to have an attorney appointed to represent them if they cannot afford one. Additionally, Metgzar (2010) indicated without rights advisory, anything admitted by a subject in an interrogation will not be useable in there trial. The ruling also encouraged the expansion of Fifth Amendment and other constitutional …show more content…

Arizona public-safety exception was established to weaken the constitutional guarantees once afforded to criminal suspects by the cases original ruling (Belson, 1985). Moreover, in the case of New York v. Quarles, the Supreme Court stated that a police officer’s concern for public safety can justify a failure to give Miranda warnings. This in turn allowed law enforcement to engage in unwarned interrogations, while the government is allowed to introduce the statements as direct evidence. However, the public safety exception only applied in situations where there is an immediate threat to the general public. A common example could be when a suspect is hiding a weapon in public place. In this situation an officer can question them on the location of the weapon without giving them their Miranda rights advisory. In the end, White (2015) indicates this historic case law works to protect the rights of citizens and to increase professionalism of the police