Impact+Today

Impact Today

Most big city police administrators do not wish to overturn Miranda," officers in their departments complied with Miranda rules. Administrators agreed with the results of the majority opinions in both U.S. V, Patane and Missouri v. Siebert. (2) Administrators disagreed with the practice of deliberately evading Miranda rules known as interrogation "outside Miranda. " (3) Three-quarters of the respondents disagreed with the proposition that aggressive psychological interrogation causes false confessions. (4) Three-fifths of big city police administrators favored the videotaping of interrogation sessions. (5) Disciplining officers for Miranda violations is uncommon. The survey indicates "wholesale" compliance with legal rules designed to guide police interrogations. However, support for violations is sufficient to be of concern for a legal system that espouses the rule of law. Although some failures to comply are a result of frequent changes in Miranda law by the Supreme Court, police agencies have an obligation to closely monitor the actions of officers.

The Miranda decision was widely criticized when it came down, as many felt it was unfair to inform suspected criminals of their rights, as outlined in the decision. Richard Nixon and other conservatives denounced Miranda for undermining the efficiency of the police, and argued the ruling would contribute to an increase in crime. Nixon, upon becoming President, promised to appoint judges who would be "strict constructionists" and who would exercise judicial restraint. Many supporters of law enforcement were angered by the decision's negative view of police officers. The federal Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 purported to overrule Miranda for federal criminal cases and restore the "totality of the circumstances" test that had prevailed previous to Miranda. The validity of this provision of the law, which is still codified at, was not ruled on for another 30 years because the Justice Department never attempted to rely on it to support the introduction of a confession into evidence at any criminal trial. Miranda was undermined by several subsequent decisions which seemed to grant several exceptions to the "Miranda warnings," undermining its claim to be a necessary corollary of the Fifth Amendment.

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