That is very false and it is a dangerous myth because it will cause people to have their guards lowered.
Police can and will ask you as many incriminating questions as they want whenever they want without mentioning anything about rights. They can even pull you aside and privately question you without Miranda rights. Miranda rights only apply under specific circumstances, which cops will purposefully avoid as much as possible.
If you are arrested or detained, they have to read you your Miranda rights before questioning you, otherwise your responses will have limited use in court due to the exclusionary clause. What they can do, and I believe is important to be more specific about, is question you without arresting or detaining you. If you aren’t arrested or detained, they don’t need to read you your rights, but once they are done questioning, they can then detain you and use your responses against you.
Key takeaways: police are not required to read your Miranda rights if you are not currently in custody. Police are not required to read your Miranda rights to arrest you. Police are required to read you your Miranda rights if you are in custody and being interrogated. If they do not read your rights, your responses during interrogation will have limited use in court. As always, the best thing to do, is invoke your 5th and lawyer up.
Thanks for taking the time to write this! It’s valuable information everyone should know.
To reiterate for others reading: police will question you under the heavy implication that you have no choice (you do) without technically detaining you in order to avoid Miranda rights. After questioning, they can then officially arrest/detain you, still without Miranda rights, because they already got everything they needed before that point.
They still are required to read Miranda rights before interrogating or questioning you
EDIt: Only if you are in custody, see the response below.
That is very false and it is a dangerous myth because it will cause people to have their guards lowered.
Police can and will ask you as many incriminating questions as they want whenever they want without mentioning anything about rights. They can even pull you aside and privately question you without Miranda rights. Miranda rights only apply under specific circumstances, which cops will purposefully avoid as much as possible.
If you are arrested or detained, they have to read you your Miranda rights before questioning you, otherwise your responses will have limited use in court due to the exclusionary clause. What they can do, and I believe is important to be more specific about, is question you without arresting or detaining you. If you aren’t arrested or detained, they don’t need to read you your rights, but once they are done questioning, they can then detain you and use your responses against you.
Key takeaways: police are not required to read your Miranda rights if you are not currently in custody. Police are not required to read your Miranda rights to arrest you. Police are required to read you your Miranda rights if you are in custody and being interrogated. If they do not read your rights, your responses during interrogation will have limited use in court. As always, the best thing to do, is invoke your 5th and lawyer up.
Thanks for taking the time to write this! It’s valuable information everyone should know.
To reiterate for others reading: police will question you under the heavy implication that you have no choice (you do) without technically detaining you in order to avoid Miranda rights. After questioning, they can then officially arrest/detain you, still without Miranda rights, because they already got everything they needed before that point.