Clearing it Up
- This subsection is full of clarifications. Warren starts by addressing his haters, telling them not to hate, but appreciate.
- The Miranda Warning, he says, is not meant to keep criminals out of jail. It's meant to make sure that everyone—educated or uneducated, smart or intellectually challenged—gets the same rights laid out in our Constitution.
- If the police take advantage of someone because they don't know their rights, that's not cool. If the police hit you until you confess, that's not cool. The Miranda Warning is a protection.
- "Crime is contagious. If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy" (Opinion.IV.2).
- That's deep.
- Next Warren says that, again, he's not stomping on police toes here. He's not trying to harm their ability to do their job.
- He says that if someone's guilty, there should be evidence beyond the confession to prove it. A confession by itself, with no other evidence, should make us wary (implying that perhaps the police got that confession illegally).
- The next several pages are some Q&A. Warren addresses the FBI about their practices, to see if they line up with the new Miranda Warning.
- The first question asked is: "When an individual is interviewed by agents of the Bureau, what warning is given to him?" (Opinion.IV.10)
- The answer? The first three statements of the Miranda Warning—the right to silence, statements may be used in court, and the right to a lawyer. Then, after 1964, the part about lawyers being free if needed.
- The second question is: "When is the warning given?" (Opinion.IV.13)
- Answer: at the very beginning of the interview.
- So far, so good.
- The third question is: "What is the Bureau's practice in the event that (a) the individual requests counsel and (b) counsel appears?" (Opinion.IV.15)
- Answer: The interview ends immediately and the individual can talk to their lawyer.
- The fourth and last question is: "What is the Bureau's practice if the individual requests counsel, but cannot afford to retain an attorney?" (Opinion.IV.18)
- The FBI lets people know that if they can't pay, they can still get a lawyer.
- Good job, FBI. Extra credit for getting the public defender part right.
- It seems like Warren's doing this to validate the new rule—all police organizations in every state should be following what's already being done by the nation's top cops.