Anyone who’s ever watched a true crime show or seen a movie that involves an interrogation or arrest has likely heard individuals being read their rights. These are known as Miranda rights and include information about very specific protections that the United States Constitution provides.
Miranda rights include the right to remain silent and the right to have an attorney. While it may seem like these rights should go into effect immediately, they must be invoked.
How do you invoke your Miranda rights?
To invoke your Miranda rights, you must clearly state that you wish to invoke them. This can mean stating that you wish to remain silent or want to speak to your attorney before you’re questioned. This is crucial to the criminal justice system because it helps to ensure that people who are being questioned by the police don’t incriminate themselves in a crime.
When you invoke your Miranda rights, you should stop speaking to the police. The protections afforded by Miranda rights are universal, so the officers who were with you when you invoked your rights can’t turn you over to different officers for the questioning to continue. It’s a violation of your rights if they continue to question you after you invoke your Miranda rights.
Violations of your Constitutional rights, including those involving Miranda rights, can become a component of your defense strategy if you’re facing criminal charges based on things you said while you were being questioned. This might be only one small part of the strategy, so determining how to put together the best defense possible is critical.