Miranda v. Arizona – FYS 100 – 34: The Rights of the Criminally Accused

Perhaps one of the most famous cases of the Warren court, Miranda v. Arizona was landmark for multiple reasons. First off, it was in a time of great tension between police and protestors. 1966 was one of the most controversial years of the protest era, and police-community relations were already poor. As soon as Miranda v. Arizona was presented to the Court, they had knew they had a really important case presented to them. Cases of this nature had been presented to the Court before, but never a case this specific that would address such a broad aspect of police-community interaction. The issue of a suspect being aware of his rights when being detained by police was never directly attacked in the way it was here.

As the court was not ruling on a specific constitutional amendment, but rather the freedom of knowledge about the amendments created to protect the arrestee. As this case was presented to them, it was the understanding of the Court that police often used violence as a form of interrogation to coerce information out of an individual. As the Warren Court tended to lean more towards the side of individual liberty rather than law and order, it was no wonder the Court ruled in favor of the individual in a case regarding constitutional protections. It is also worthy to note that the Court essentially created legislate in this case by requiring police to perform certain actions when interacting with the community, something that the Court was not created to do, and typically strayed away from.

The dissent brings up some good points that must be recognized. “The most basic function of any government is to provide for the security of the individual and his property.” The police has used means the Court had deemed unfit to obtain information pertaining to a crime, and the Court did what they could with their given power to ensure that it didn’t happen again. Whether or not that means police work would forever be inhibited by the ruling, the Warren Court had a decision to make; rule on the side of law and order or individual liberties. As was expected, individual liberties won the day, and it is open to interpretation whether that is good or bad. Either way, police-community relations and interactions were changed forever.

Camryn Travis says:

November 1, 2016 at 9:14 pm

Kurt,
I find it interesting that you considered the context of society the Miranda v. Arizona (1966) case. Normally when discussing a supreme court case we consider the implications of the decision on society, rarely do we consider how society will influence the ruling. The tension between police and citizens was so powerful in 1966 that the Supreme Court was able to use the Miranda v. Arizona (1966) case as a proactive measure against future interactions between police and citizens. As you said, the Miranda v. Arizona (1966) case served as a landmark in police-citizen relationship because it removed some of the coercive practices of police. In the majority opinion, Justice Warren used a recent incident, of the time, in which police officers physically abused a suspect in order to obtain information as evidence to support the need for policies to protect citizen’s fifth amendment rights.

Daniel Jones says:

November 10, 2016 at 9:54 pm

In my opinion it was detrimental that you talked about how the case was different than others, and that it stood out on it’s own. How the police and community were already doing rough, and not relating to each other. Also the courts realizing that the ruling of this case would affect cases forever on the rights of a individual that is arrested or detained. Tying in the quote “The most basic function of any government is to provide for the security of the individual and his property.” speaks a lot about this whole case, and relates to the ruling as well. Police coercion and brutality could easily get out of hand in a search for answers, but with the suspect knowing that they have a right to a attorney, and the right to remain silent stop all of that before it even begins. I agree with this post completely there is nothing I would change.