A Theory of Police Reaction to Miranda v. Arizona

Abstract

There is no firm evidence to support the argument that the Miranda rules free the guilty. For one thing, the usefulness of confessions in determining guilt is open to question; for another, none of the many studies of the effect of Miranda on confession rates is conclusive. Nevertheless, the decision has probably low ered the rates, but not by much. Estimates of the necessity of confessions in obtaining convictions are highly speculative, but all agree in being low. It is difficult to believe, therefore, that the police who criticize Miranda are responding directly to a perceived threat to society: that those guilty of crime will remain at large.