Miranda warning

A **Miranda warning** is a list of rights that people in the United States have when they are being questioned by the police or arrested.  These rights are called **Miranda rights**.  Because of a United States Supreme Court decision in a case called *Miranda v. Arizona*, , the police have to give a person this list of rights before they start questioning them.

One goal of the Miranda warning is to make sure that suspects' rights under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution are protected.  Another goal is to make sure suspects know about their rights, and know that they can use them.

## Background
### Crime
In *Miranda v. Arizona*, a man named Ernesto Miranda confessed to kidnapping and raping a 17-year-old girl.  In Simple English, they are:
# The suspect has the "right to remain silent."  They do not have to say anything and can refuse to answer any questions.
# Anything the suspect says that is related to a crime can be used as evidence in court to prove their guilt.
# The suspect has the right to have a lawyer.
# If the suspect cannot pay for a lawyer, they still have the right to a lawyer.  The court will assign a free lawyer for them.

### Different versions
There are at least 945 different versions of the Miranda warning just in English.  Some try to make the warning easier for juveniles or people with learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, or mental illnesses to understand. Some may ask the suspect to confirm that he or she understands the warning.

The Miranda warning has also had to be translated into many different languages.  Many different police departments carry cards that show the warning in different languages.  Others use translators to give the warning.

## When it is used
The law says the police have to give a suspect a Miranda warning before they start questioning them.  If they do not, and the suspect gives a confession, that confession could later be thrown out in court.  This means a court could rule that the confession cannot be used as evidence in a trial.  A confession can also be thrown out if the police gave a Miranda warning, but gave it the wrong way, or did not make sure the suspect understood it.
# The suspect gave the police evidence during an interrogation
# This evidence was information  something the suspect said to police (not a thing, like clothes or a blood )
# The suspect gave this evidence while in police  (under arrest, or not allowed to leave the police)
# The suspect gave this evidence during a police interrogation
# The suspect knew the people questioning him were law enforcement officers
# The state uses the suspect's confession during a criminal trial

If these six things are true, then the prosecution has to prove that:

In a study of 560 different English versions of the Miranda warning, researchers found that a person would need 7th-grade reading skills to understand the simplest versions.  To understand the most complicated Miranda warnings, a person would need a doctoral-level education (the highest level of education you can get at a university).

### Misunderstanding
According to the American Psychological Association, people are so used to hearing the Miranda warning on television that they think they understand their rights.  However, a 2011 study by Richard Rogers says that many people do not understand their Miranda rights, or have wrong beliefs about them.  For example, in one study, a researcher asked juveniles and adults to repeat back the Miranda warning in their own words.  The researcher also asked them to define six of the most important words in the Miranda warning, like "consult," "appoint," and "attorney."  Finally, the researcher tested whether they could understand different versions of the Miranda warning.  He found:

Another study, done in 2013, found that 16- and 17-year-olds charged with a felony almost always waived their Miranda rights.  They waived their rights 93% of the time, while adults waived their rights 80% of the time.  Especially when juveniles waive their rights and agree to talk to police without a lawyer, they are much more likely to confess to something they did not actually do.  Looking at people who were proven to be innocent, studies found that one-third to two-fifths of untrue confessions came from juveniles.  Police got almost 7 out of every 10 of these false confessions from children ages 15 and under.

A report from the American Bar Association suggests this version of the Miranda warning for juveniles:
* Suspects who speak Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese being given written Miranda warnings that were not translated correctly
* Police using translators who did not speak the suspect's language at all

The Miranda warning is also difficult to translate into some languages.  Not all languages have words for the same ideas as English.  For example, American Sign Language has no signs for legal words like "rights."

## Related pages
* *Miranda v. Arizona*
* Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution (protects the right to remain silent)
* Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution (protects the right to a lawyer)
* *Gideon v. Wainwright* (protects the right to have a lawyer for any criminal charge, free if needed)
* *Escobedo v. Illinois* (protects the right to have a lawyer while being questioned by police)

## Notes
## References
## Other websites
* Know Your Rights: Simple English brochures from the American Civil Liberties Union about your Miranda rights
** Know Your Rights When Being Questioned by Law Enforcement
** Know Your Rights As a Juvenile 
** Deaf Rights: What to Do if You Are Dealing with the Police  (starring Marlee Matlin)
** Information for Non-Citizens