A professor's 19 year crusade to end Miranda warnings because they're "handcuffing the cops" (Updated)
image credit: University of Utah News
Since at least 1998, a former prosecutor and Deputy Attorney General turned professor has been claiming that the Miranda warning, handcuffs the police. In 1998 University of Utah Professor Paul Cassell wrote a report titled, "Handcuffing the Cops: Miranda's Harmful Effects on Law Enforcement".
Cassell's report claimed, that since the Miranda vs. Arizona ruling, convictions and confessions have dropped dramatically.
"Because of the restrictions, there are 28,000 fewer convictions for violent crimes, 79,000 fewer for property crimes and 500,000 fewer for other crimes each year."
Fast forward to 2017, where Cassell and economics professor Richard Fowles claim that police could solve 20 percent more violent crimes and 11.6 percent more property crimes if only they weren't handcuffed by Miranda.
"The professors say their research suggests that the reduced rate stems not from the warning about the right to remain silent, but from Miranda procedures that generally prevent police from questioning suspects in custody unless they agree to be questioned."
To Cassell, Miranda vs. Arizona was "the most damaging blow inflicted on law enforcement in the last 50 years."
If Cassell has his way, no one will be given Miranda warnings.
Updated 8/17:
Misdemeanor defendants not told they have a right to counsel
"The defendants were booked, photographed, fingerprinted and then led into Court 1A in the county courthouse in Nashville. There was no judge. Prosecutors handling the misdemeanor cases invited the accused who were interested in pleading guilty to step forward and finalized plea deals for suspended sentences and an array of fines. There were no defense lawyers, nor were any of the defendants advised they were entitled to one."
"Later that day in September 2016, a group of five defendants was called up by a local prosecutor and offered the previously arranged plea deals, some of which might have resulted in days behind bars. One defendant asked to see a judge. The prosecutor said that was not possible, and that her only choice at that moment was to plead guilty, or to plead not guilty and go to trial. The defendant could only speak to the judge, the prosecutor said, if she rejected the plea offer. Again, none of the defendants was told they had the right to see a lawyer before entering any plea."
"According to the American Bar Association, this is one of the most routine constitutional violations taking place in U.S. courts every day: the failure to notify indigent defendants facing misdemeanor charges that can carry jail time that they are entitled to a lawyer."
Cassell's 19 year crusade to end Miranda warnings
Since at least 1998, Cassell has been has been filing briefs across the country trying to overturn Miranda. Which means he's been on a nineteen year crusade to end Miranda warnings.
A 1999 article in The American Prospect warned that Cassell 'could be influential in shaping our country's legal system for decades to come'.
What these professors are really advocating for, is to give police more powers to intimidate people into admitting to a crime they may not have committed.
Below is an excerpt taken from section 4 of Cassell's "Handcuffing the Cops" report.
"Many criminal cases, even when investigated by the best qualified police departments, are capable of solution only by means of an admission or confession from the guilty individual or upon the basis of information obtained from the questioning of other criminal suspects.”
Cassell's crusade goes hand in hand with a 2012 Appeals Court ruling that allows private prisons to question inmates in the "comfortable surroundings" of a prison without giving them a Miranda warning. The Court reasoned, that since an inmate was already in prison, they are used to being in a confined place with restrictions as opposed to a free person.
The Court also claimed a prisoner could simply refuse to talk the police and go back to their cell without any repercussions.
Taking away Miranda warnings , will lead to more people being arrested nationwide just to keep the $100+ billion dollar industry running smoothly.
America leads the world in incarcerating people
Imagine a future, where police don't tell a suspect they have the right to remain silent and to have an attorney represent them.
America leads the world in the number of people behind bars and if the DOJ decides to eliminate Miranda we can expect to see a lot more than 11 million people cycle through our jails each year.
Although America has only 4.4 percent of the world’s population, it houses about 22 percent of the world’s prisoners.
America's fixation on overcriminalization costs us $152 billion a year, with close to half a million innocent people in jail awaiting trial annually!
"The system isn't geared to discover innocence or guilt — it's geared to get people through the system as quickly and efficiently as possible," says defense lawyer John Pollok.
Americans need more protection from the police not less.