Miranda v. Arizona: Law and Order Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph) or (Section.Subsection.Paragraph)

Quote #1

We granted certiorari in these cases […] to give concrete constitutional guidelines for law enforcement agencies and courts to follow. (Opinion.3)

Certiorari is fancy legal jargon used by the Supreme Court to mean "Okay. We'll take your case." Read those last few words—evidently there was some confusion about the issue of Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights that the Court wanted to clarify. The idea was to have all police departments operating under the same principles.

Quote #2

It is not admissible to do a great right by doing a little wrong…It is not sufficient to do justice by obtaining a proper result by irregular or improper means. (Opinion.I.5)

Rules apply to both the regular folks and the police. If the police break the rules in order to help keep order…where do we draw the line? Think about the word choices with "irregular" and "improper." It's hard to know exactly what those terms mean, and that's what the Opinion and Dissent sections really get into.

Quote #3

We have concluded that, without proper safeguards, the process of in-custody interrogation of persons suspected or accused of crime contains inherently compelling pressures which work to undermine the individual's will to resist and to compel him to speak where he would not otherwise do so freely. (Opinion.III.1)

Pressure to talk doesn't have to be physical (like being hit). It can be mental (feeling scared, alone, out of options, being too young to really understand what's happening). We think it's pretty insightful that the Court recognized these kinds of psychological pressures, and instituted rules that took them into account. Warren's suggesting that, even though there are rules in place to protect suspects (Fifth and Sixth Amendments), it's too easy to break them.