Public Safety Exception to Miranda Rights

Public Safety Exception to Miranda Rights
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Public Safety Exception to Miranda Rights
The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States stipulates the rights of the citizens. One of such rights is the fact that defendants are protected from self-incrimination, meaning that police officers should not compel the suspects to give any evidence against themselves. This requirement is mostly observed during arrests, whereby police officers should give the Miranda warning. The Miranda warning refers to the advice given by police officers to suspects who whatever they say during arrests could be used against them (Rogers et al., 2010). Miranda rights are a serious thing in the country because lack of warning the suspect may sabotage prosecution.
However, there is an exception to the rule. The courts have shown that it is possible to use self-incriminating evidence against suspects even if the police fail to tell them of their Miranda rights before an arrest, typically in cases involving public safety. The public safety exception to the rule comes into play when police officers feel that they need to protect themselves or other citizens from danger. This action has to be reasonable. The reasonable limits for this exception include the existence of a safety concern, restrained questioning, and suspect’s voluntariness. The police officer can determine that the limits of the exception have been reached if there is no more public safety concern, the suspect no longer speaks voluntarily, and if the questions already asked are too many.

Even though there is no explicit statement showing when the exception is terminated, a police officer ought to know that whenever the limits of the exception are reached, he or she should refrain from more questioning as the failure of the same would sabotage the prosecution. Therefore, a police officer should know that reaching the limits of exception is a sign of its termination.
Reference
Rogers, R., Rogstad, J. E., Gillard, N. D., Drogin, E. Y., Blackwood, H. L., & Shuman, D. W. (2010). “Everyone knows their Miranda rights”: Implicit assumptions and countervailingevidence. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 16(3), 300.