NCJ Number
13194
Date Published
1973
Length
246 pages
Annotation
ANALYSIS OF SUPREME COURT INFIGHTING AND GRASS-ROOT EFFECT ASSOCIATED WITH ATTEMPTS TO CONTROL INTERROGATION PRACTICES.
Abstract
THE ADMISSIBILITY OF CONFESSIONS AND OTHER STATEMENTS OF ACCUSED PERSONS OBTAINED DURING POLICE QUESTIONING AND LATER USED AT TRIAL HAS WEIGHED HEAVILY ON THE AMERICAN LEGAL CONSCIENCE. THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT'S FARREACHING INTERROGATION RULING, MIRANDA V. ARIZONA (1966), HIGHLIGHTED THE PROBLEM. THE AUTHOR EXAMINES THE COURT'S DEVELOPMENT OF STANDARDS DETERMINING THE LEGITIMACY OF CONFESSIONS AND RELATED STATEMENTS AS EVIDENCE OF GUILT AND, OF PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE, PRESENTS THE RESULTS OF FIELD RESEARCH ON MIRANDA'S IMPACT. IT WAS CHIEFLY DURING THE LAST THREE DECADES THAT THE COURT, WITH INCREASING FREQUENCY, ATTEMPTED TO CONTROL WHAT A FLUCTUATING MAJORITY OF ITS MEMBERS REGARDED AS THE EXCESSES OF POLICE INTERROGATION. THE COURT APPROACHED THIS DIFFICULT TASK BY APPLYING EVEN MORE STRINGENT STANDARDS. IN ITS ATTEMPT TO ALTER INTERROGATION PRACTICES, THE COURT AROUSED HOSTILITY IN LAW ENFORCEMENT CIRCLES AND AMONG LARGE NUMBERS OF PROSECUTION-ORIENTED PERSONS, SOME OF WHOM WERE INFLUENTIAL MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. THE AUTHOR TRACES THE HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF MODERN CONFESSION DECISIONS FROM THEIR ENGLISH COMMON LAW ORIGINS THROUGH THEIR CULMINATION IN THE MIRANDA DECISION AND THE COURT'S CONTINUING EFFORT TO COPE WITH QUESTIONS OF ADMISSIBILITY. THE EMPHASIS THROUGHOUT IS ON THE SHARP INTRA-COURT CLEAVAGES AND ON THE BACKGROUND OF PUBLIC CONTROVERSY IN WHICH THE CASES HAVE BEEN DECIDED. THE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE OF THE EFFECTS OF MIRANDA AT THE GRASS-ROOTS LEVEL - OBTAINED IN A 1970 STUDY OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENTS OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE, AND MACON, GEORGIA - IS THOROUGHLY WEIGHED. THE RESEARCH SUPPORTS THE BASIC THESIS THAT THE COURT'S EFFORT AT INTERROGATION REFORM HAS HAD LIMITED PRACTICAL EFFECT. (SNI ABSTRACT)