Legal culture of the English speaking world
Baptiste Ottevaere
Miranda rights: you have the right to remain silent.
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to the presence of an attorney to assist you …
These are the 3 first sentences of the Miranda warning. My paper deals also with 3 questions: Where does this warning come from and who is Miranda? What does it mean? And what’s the impact on the society of today?
The answer of the first question lies in the Supreme Court decision Miranda vs. Arizona. I’ll start with a brief history of the life of Ernesto Miranda, followed by an account of his trial, and ending with the Supreme Court decision. Afterwards I shall discuss the warning itself, and the constitutional issue at stake. Which amendment of the Constitution is at issue, but most of all what are the pros and cons of the Miranda warning. The discussion on the consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision shall consist in 2 parts: first of all the current position of the Supreme Court on the issue. For instance, in the case Dickerson vs. United States the question arose whether the Court should overrule the Miranda warning or not. The second part is about the impact on the society and more specific its influence on Hollywood.
* Add a title to highlight the structure of your presentation.
But first of all, Miranda was born in Mesa, Arizona in 1941. His story doesn’t read like a fairy tale. He didn’t have a very smooth youth. His mother died when he was young, the relationship with his father and his stepmother was terrible. And at the age of 14, after his first conviction for burglary he dropped out of school. Followed up by other charges such as: again for burglary, but also attempted rape and assault. Broke, and without any grade he believed that the U.S. Army might be the solution. But instead he was dishonorable discharged, and so he moved to Texas at...