Laws Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Laws - Essay Example Albeit there was considerable opposition to Miranda warnings for more than fourteen years after the decision, these days, little practical impediment exists in the police ability to procure a confession. In Dickerson v United States, the fact that law enforcement groups did not en masse, file amicus briefs urging the court to overturn Miranda showed how much things have changed since 1968, when law enforcement lobbies prevailed in Congress to enact an unconstitutional statute (18 U.S. Code sec. 3501), which purported to overturn Miranda. As detailed by Sociologist Richard Leo (university of California-Irvine), â€Å"police use a variety of deceptive techniques to extract confessions these days. Because the confessions are not â€Å"coercive† (according to judicial interpretation), the resulting confessions are almost always admitted into evidence†. (Leo) Why do so many people confess? Professor Leo explains the incidence thusly: that suspects are often put into a physic al environment –such as a small isolated room-which is designed to make them talk. After the isolation, the appearance of a police officer may seem like a welcome form of human contact, then the police routinely deliver the Miranda warnings in a perfunctory tone of voice and ritualistic behavioral manner, effectively conveying that these warnings are little more than a beaucratic triviality. (Leo)