Running Head: CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS IN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS
Constitutional Protections in Criminal Investigations
What are constitutional rights and why are they so important to us? Our Constitutional rights are in place to protect us from wrongful conviction and improper police behavior. Originally these rights were made in reaction to the abusive conduct displayed by British authorities during Colonial times. Without the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, we would not be a democracy, but instead we would become a communist country. The Constitution is pretty much our basis of freedom, because boundaries are set and it gives the government guidelines to which ones they can interfere with without violating them. Most
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United States, narcotic agents unlawfully entered Toy’s laundry and Toy indicated that Yee was selling narcotics. The agents found Yee along with drugs and he made a deal to give up the supplier Wong Sun. The agents were able to arrest Wong Sun and he voluntarily returned to the police station to make a statement. At Yee’s trial it was found that the drugs were excluded as part of the fruit of the poisonous tree because the search was done without a warrant. Wong Sun’s lawyer argued that his confession should be excluded as well, but an exception was found because he voluntarily returned to the station to make a statement (Kessler, 2010).
The Fifth Amendment as it pertains to confessions, states that “no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against themselves. The Fifth Amendment was created to protect individuals against self-incrimination, and any confession obtained when it is in violation of the Amendment will be inadmissible in court. The case Miranda v. Arizona involves Ernesto Miranda who was arrested based on evidence linking him to a kidnapping and rape. Miranda signed a confession to the rape, but he was never told his right to counsel, his right to remain silent, and that his statements would be used against him during the interrogation before being presented the confession form. His lawyer argued that the
The Constitution and the Amendments are two very important documents that are needed in order to keep the people of America in order. The purpose of the Constitution is to, “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” (Constitution Preamble). The purpose of the Bill of Rights and the 17 Amendments, bringing the total to 27, are to protect the rights of the people of America and to prevent the government from having full control over the people.
Ernesto Miranda’s written confession confession included a signed statement saying that he had a full understanding of his fifth amendment rights. Miranda argued that he was never told his rights nor did he understand them. In the fifth amendment of the United States constitution it says that an accused person cannot be forced to witness against their self, also the sixth amendment states that the accused shall have the assistance of counsel for his defense. Miranda claimed that he neither knew his fifth amendment right to remain silent or his right to have a lawyer present during questioning. He argued that a suspect who didn’t have any prior knowledge of his rights would feel pressured to answer all the questions posed by the interrogators. They used his written testimony to convict Miranda. Since Miranda didn’t know he didn’t have to answer all the questions, his confession wasn’t voluntary (alavardohistory). Therefore since it wasn’t voluntary he was forced to “witness” against himself. As a result the actions of the police violated the fifth amendment.
The Constitution protects my rights by not letting tyrants rule over me and branches ruling over my freedom and rights. The constitution protects my rights like checks and balances,Natural Rights,and Social Contract does. The constitution states my rights that will help me from tyrants.
Ernesto Miranda was arrested for a violent crime in Phoenix, Arizona and was taken to a police station for questioning. Officers put him into a room, where they questioned him for many hours. They came out with a confession Miranda had signed. The confession form included a paragraph saying the confession had been made voluntarily. The typed paragraph said Miranda had signed the confession “with full knowledge of my legal rights, understanding any statement I make may be used against me.” Miranda’s confession was used against him in court, and he was convicted.5th Amendment says that a person involved in a criminal case cannot be forced to be a witness against himself. In other words, only statements that are
The US Constitution established America’s national government, fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. The framers of the Constitution ensured that the government would be just, and protect its citizens from internal discord. The Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments in The Constitution and are to be our most basic of rights. The 5th amendment states “life, liberty, and property without due process of the law”. The 5th Amendment protects people from being held for committing a crime unless properly prosecuted, from being tried twice for the same crime, from being forced to testify against yourself, and from property being taken without payment. It also contains due process guarantees. Due Process gives
The Fifth Amendment (Amendment V) which is followed by the United States Constitution belongs to the part of the Bill of Rights and will protect each and every individual from being compelled to witnesses against themselves in all sorts of criminal cases. "Pleading the Fifth" is a sort of informal term used generally for invoking the right which allows the witnesses to decline the chance of answering the questions which may lead the answers that might incriminate them, and basically it wouldn’t provide any criteria to suffer a penalty to propound the right. This sort of evidentiary privilege makes sure that defendants generally the accused cannot be coercing to become the witnesses at their own trials. If, however, by any chance
The U.S. Constitutional Rights are laws that guarantee the basic rights for the citizens.There are twenty-seven Constitutional Amendments in total, but 10 of them represent The Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights ensures the basic individual protections such as freedom of speech and religion. The Bill of Rights became part of the Constitution in December 15, 1791 by George Mason.
The Fifth Amendment saves very much time. Usually when a person is held captive for committing crime they do not want to admit it at all so it takes a long time to find evidence. “Providing chiefly that no person be required to testify against himself or herself in a criminal case” (fifth amendment, Inc.). It says that no one has to be forced to tell it was them who had committed the crime and and if they do this then they do not have to go through a huge process and saves so much time. “In general, you can assert your Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in any circumstance in which you are being questioned by a government official and when what you say can be used as evidence against you in a criminal matter.”(Gilley, When Do You Waive That Right?). One can Plead the Fifth” whenever that person does not want to answer the question asking if you committed crime. The court does not have to get that person to tell the truth if they plead the Fifth but just like any criminal they do not want to tell the truth which takes a long and hard process to get evidence and ask others such as family members and sometimes they also lie. By that time the investigators have to do everything on their own and get as much evidence as they can. On the other hand some people may say that the person just either tell the truth or lie so then the investigators can at least prove that the person is a criminal. So by either just telling the truth and
In March of 1963, the Phoenix Police Department brought in an accused to their departments to investigate him. Upon arriving to the police department two detectives interrogated him about the rape of a mildly, handicap young woman and a kidnap. After two hours of interrogating the suspect, Ernesto Miranda, confessed to the crime just after the detectives told him the victim had identified him in a lineup. Ernesto Miranda was found guilty of both crimes and was sentenced to twenty to thirty years in prison. In 1966, three years later, Miranda’s sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court due to the fact that Miranda was not notified about his fifth or sixth amendment. His fifth amendment gave him the right to avoid self-incrimination by
In conclusion, the Fifth Amendment privilege against Self-Incrimination only gives people the right to refuse to testify to the government if such testimony will incriminate them of a crime. Law enforcement cannot force the defendant to make any testimonial that can be used as evidence that he/she is guilty of the crime. It does not allow the right to refuse other physical evidence such as handwriting, to speak certain words, fingerprints, blood samples, and tissue samples or to refuse to stand in a police lineup even if these compelled documents contain incriminating evidence. Unless any of the documents is private meaning unknown to the government, the act of the defendant producing these documents can implicate a violation of the Fifth Amendment right.
These amendments make it known that all people have the right to choose whether or not to speak when being questioned, consult with an attorney, be tried by and unbiased jury and be granted a public attorney if necessary (Document E). In the case of Ernesto Miranda, he did not know he had these rights. Therefore, the court could not see his confession as admissible. He was unaware that he could keep quiet if he wanted to and instead his inquisitors pushed him to confess. He did not know he had the right to a lawyer and therefore was on his own deciding how to go about the threat to his future. It has always been tradition that prosecutors could not take confessions into court if investigators used coercion or torture of any kind to gain the confession. This has been in place since the 1600s, as shown by the Laws of Connecticut Colony at the time, which stated “no man shall be forced … to confess any crime against himself” (Document B). This tradition has been present throughout centuries and has only been being more refined and updated as time goes on. The Miranda rulings allowed for yet another opportunity to revamp these rights not only by making sure that people have their rights, but also by making sure that they know explicitly that they have the
In 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed Miranda’s appeal. It ruled that in the police interrogation of Miranda, the police did not follow the Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the Constitution. The Fifth Amendment says that a criminal suspect has the right not to incriminate himself, or “to be a witness against himself”. The Sixth Amendment says that a criminal defendant has the right to an attorney. Before Miranda’s interrogation, the police did not inform him of these rights. Miranda had no attorney during the interrogation. So Miranda’s conviction was reversed by the
The Fifth Amendment defense that was espoused by the Supreme Court case Miranda v. Arizona, which gave birth to two basic measures that would protect an individual’s Fifth Amendment rights and they were: they have the right to remain silent and the right to have counsel provided if they cannot afford one. The court also set in place another protection for citizens which were “privilege against compelled self-incrimination by requiring LEOs to provide certain warnings and obtain a waiver from a defendant prior to custodial interrogation” (Myers, 2010, para. 2). Thereby, if a person invokes their Fifth Amendment right to counsel, then all interrogation must stop, unless their counsel is present.
This invaluable statement was not always common knowledge however. In 1966, there was a Supreme Court ruling of a case that changed how the 5th amendment was presented to someone in a position of self-incrimination. This infamous case is Miranda vs. Arizona. Miranda vs. Arizona began in 1963 with Ernesto Miranda
The Judicial branch entered this controversy in 1966, when the U.S Supreme Court determined the case of Miranda v. Arizona. The Court announced that whenever a person is taken into the guardianship of the law enforcement, previously questioned that he or she must be told of his Fifth Amendment right. Correspondingly of the Miranda, anyone that’s in the guardianship of law enforcement must be advised four conditions before going into questioning. “You acquire the right to remain reticent, anything you deliver can and will be recycled opposed to you in a court of legislation, you have the right to an advocate, if you cannot afford an advocate, one will be appointed for you.”(FindLaw.com) When a police deputy questions the suspect in custody without giving them the Miranda Rights, all statements or confessions made are presumed to be involuntary, and cannot be used against the suspected in any criminal case. If you