Ch. 8 Self-Incrimination (Q2)

Question 1

What 3 constitutional provisions control police interrogation and confessions?

Answer 1

1) 14th Amendment - Due Process Clause
2) 6th Amendment - Right-to-Counsel Clause
3) 5th Amendment - Self-Incrimination Clause

Question 2

At what stages of the criminal process are the 5th and 14th Amendment due process clauses applicable?

Answer 2

All stages

Question 3

At what stages of the criminal process is the 6th Amendment right-to-counsel clause applicable?

Answer 3

All stages after formal charges

Question 4

At what stages of the criminal process is the 5th Amendment self-incrimination clause applicable?

Answer 4

Custodial interrogation and all following stages

Question 5

This approach to interrogation and confessions dealt with early false-confession cases of white mobs torturing poor, illiterate black people until they confessed.

Answer 5

What is the due process approach?

Question 6

What was the basic idea behind confessions under the due process approach, and how were they tested?

Answer 6

The basic idea was that confessions must be voluntary and evaluated with the voluntariness test

Question 7

How were confessions evaluated under the voluntariness test?

Answer 7

The totality of the circumstances surrounding the confession to see if the suspect voluntarily confessed

Question 8

What are the 3 rationales for the due process approach?

Answer 8

1) Reliability rationale
2) Accusatory system rationale
3) Free will rationale

Question 9

This due process approach rationale states that admitting unreliable evidence to prove guilt denies defendants the right to their lives, liberty, and/or property without due process of the law.

Answer 9

What is the reliability rationale?

Question 10

This due process approach rationale states that forced confessions violate due process even if they’re true.

Answer 10

What is the accusatory system rationale?

Question 11

This due process approach rationale states that involuntary confessions are unreliable and, contrary to the accusatory system of justice, all confessions are coerced if they’re not the product of a rational intellect and free will.

Answer 11

What is the free will rationale?

Question 12

A critical stage in criminal prosecutions.

Answer 12

What is custodial interrogation?

Question 13

In this 1964 case, SCOTUS ruled that the defendant’s murder confession had to be thrown out since he gave it without the advice of his lawyer.

Answer 13

What is Escobedo v. Illinois?

Question 14

Which interrogation/confession approach was used to evaluate the Escobedo case?

Answer 14

Right-to-Counsel Approach

Question 15

What 3 elements must defendants prove to successfully claim that their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination was violated (HINT: CIT)?

Answer 15

1) Compulsion
2) Incrimination
3) Testimony

Question 16

The content of what you say and write.

Answer 16

What is testimony?

Question 17

Is physical evidence protected by the Fifth Amendment? Why or why not?

Answer 17

No, because the 5th Amendment protects against testimony and NOT physical evidence

Question 18

In this 1966 case, USSC determined that a blood alcohol sample taken against the suspect’s will did not count as testimonial evidence.

Answer 18

What is Schmerber v. California?

Question 19

What is incriminating evidence not protected by the 5th Amendment called?

Answer 19

Non-testimonial evidence

Question 20

What was the ruling for Miranda v. Arizona?

Answer 20

Suspects taken into custody to be subjected to interrogation must first be advised of their 5th Amendment rights under due process of the law

Question 21

Why did SCOTUS issue a “bright line” rule to govern custodial interrogations?

Answer 21

Because custodial interrogations are inherently coercive

Question 22

What does the Miranda bright-line rule do exactly?

Answer 22

Prevents police coercion while allowing police pressure

Question 23

At what 3 points/scenarios can police question people without Mirandizing them?

Answer 23

1) Crime scenes
2) Before people become suspects
3) 4th Amendment stops

Question 24

Being held by the police in a police station or depriving an individual of “freedom of action in any significant way.”

Answer 24

What is custody?

Question 25

This case held that being subjected to questioning at a 4th Amendment traffic stop did not amount to “custodial interrogation” and, therefore, did not require Mirandizing the motorist.

Answer 25

What is Berkemer v. McCarty (1984)?

Question 26

This 1984 case held that the need for answers in a situation posing a risk to public safety, such as an unattended gun lying around, outweighs the need to Mirandize the suspect prior to questioning.

Answer 26

What is New York v. Quarles?

Question 27

What exception to Miranda did NY v. Quarles (1984) bring about?

Answer 27

Public safety exception

Question 28

Any words or actions on the part of the police that the police should know are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from the suspect.

Answer 28

What is interrogation?

Question 29

Identify the 2 circumstances that must exist before officers have to give Miranda warnings.

Answer 29

1) Custody
2) Interrogation

Question 30

This 1980 case created the 5th Amendment “Functional Equivalent of a Question” Test. LEOs talked about how talked about how the shotgun he dropped landed on the grounds of a school for special needs children, prompting the defendant to confess.

Answer 30

What is Rhode Island v. Innis?

Question 31

What words are included in the functional equivalent of a question test?

Answer 31

Words police officers should know are likely to elicit an incriminating response

Question 32

The 1977 “Christian Burial Speech” case invoking the 6th Amendment “Deliberately Eliciting a Response” Test.

Answer 32

What is Brewer v. Williams?

Question 33

What was the ruling for Brewer v. Williams?

Answer 33

LEOs taking advantage of Williams’ religious convictions to elicit an incriminating confession was a clear violation of 6th and 14th Amendments

Question 34

This waiver test states that the suspect makes it clear that he knows his rights, knows he’s giving them up, and knows the consequences.

Answer 34

What is the express waiver test?

Question 35

This waiver test states that the totality of circumstances surrounding each case has to prove that before suspects talked, they knew their rights and knew they were giving them up.

Answer 35

What is the implied waiver test?

Question 36

Which waiver test is preferred to judge whether a suspect is sure they are waiving their rights? Express or implied waiver? Why?

Answer 36

Implied because it takes into account the totality of circumstances

Question 37

This 2010 case held that criminal suspects who want to protect their right to remain silent must speak up and invoke it.

Answer 37

What is Berguis v. Thompkins?

Question 38

Identify the 2 elements a defendant must prove in order to show a confession was involuntary.

Answer 38

1) Officers engaged in coercive conduct during interrogation
2) Coercive conduct caused suspect to make incriminating statements

Question 39

Despite being mentally ill and having been a mental patient, why was Connelly’s murder confession in Colorado v. Connelly admitted?

Answer 39

It was voluntary (not compelled) because the murder had been weighing on Connelly’s conscience

Question 40

What are 4 ways confessions are proven false?

Answer 40

1) Crime never happened
2) Defendant physically couldn’t have committed crime
3) Actual criminal proven guilty
4) DNA evidence exonerates defendant

Question 41

This type of false confession is made for a variety of reasons, such as a desire for notoriety or a need for self-punishment to remove guilty feelings.

Answer 41

What is voluntary false?

Question 42

This type of false confession involves suspects giving in to demands to escape an uncomfortable situation or receive a reward.

Answer 42

What is compliant false?

Question 43

This type of false confession is when 18-year-old Peter Reilly called LEO after finding his mother murdered. LEOs suspected he did it, gained his trust, and told him he failed a lie detector test (a lie).

Answer 43

What is internalized false?

Question 44

What are 3 reforms to reduce false confessions?

Answer 44

1) Reducing length of time in custody and interrogation
2) Eliminating police use of false information during interrogation
3) Recording interrogations and confessions