What Is a Miranda Rights Waiver?
The Miranda warning (also referred to as Miranda rights) is a warning that is required to be given by police in the United States to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial interrogation) before they are questioned to inform them about their constitutional rights. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that an elicited incriminating statement by a suspect will not constitute admissible evidence in court unless the suspect was informed of the right to decline to make self-incriminatory statements and declined the right to legal counsel. Also it is required that the suspect be informed and, therefore, makes a knowing, intelligent and voluntary waiver of those rights.
The Miranda warning is not a condition of detention of a suspect, but rather a safeguard against self-incrimination. As a result, if law enforcement officials decline to offer a Miranda warning to an individual in their custody, they may still interrogate that person and act upon the knowledge gained, but may not use that person's statements to incriminate him or her in a criminal trial.
Under the law, an individual cannot waive his or her Miranda rights unless the individual is able to knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily do so. "Knowingly" refers to an individual's ability to understand the language in which the Miranda rights were read or written. This presupposes that the rights are either spoken or written in the suspect's language and that the suspect has the ability to read. "Intelligently" refers to the individual's ability to comprehend the meaning of the warning. This presents a challenge in dealing with suspects who are intellectually challenged or not aware of their actions and their consequences. "Voluntarily" means that the individual waived his or her rights without being coerced by the police to do so.
In cases where the individual may be mentally retarded or is a juvenile who may not be developmentally or cognitively mature enough to meet these three criteria, the court or the defense may request a psychological evaluation regarding the defendant's competency to waive his or her Miranda rights. At this point, a forensic psychiatrist may be brought into the case to perform the evaluation.
Evaluation of an individual's competency to waive his or her Miranda rights may include, but is not limited to:
- A review of records related to the specific offense (e.g., police records and witness statements)
- A review of background records and history (e.g., academic records and psychiatric treatment records)
- Background information, including social history, psychiatric history, medical history, and substance abuse history
- Clinical interview(s) of the defendant and the defendant's description of the offense
- Collateral interview(s) with a spouse, caregiver or other family members
- Psychological testing (e.g., intellectual and personality assessment)
- Malingering assessment
- Assessment of the defendant's state of mind leading up to and during the offense based on interviews with the defendant and collateral sources
- Diagnostic impressions
- Violence risk assessment
- Summary of the evaluation
- Determination of conclusions
- Recommendations
After careful consideration, the forensic psychiatrist completes the process by determining whether or not the suspect is fit to waive his or her Miranda rights. This is no small consideration because these rights are so fundamental to our Constitutional rights and the Fifth Amendment.
About the Author:
Stephen Kelly is a entrepreneur and freelance writer. Be sure to check out this Forensic Psychiatry website for more great articles like this one.
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