Interacting with police officers can be a traumatic experience for some people because they may not be sure about their rights or how to invoke them. If you’re in police custody and are being questioned by police, you should be familiar with your Miranda rights.
The Miranda rights include the right to remain silent to avoid self-incrimination and the right to have legal representation. Police officers are required to read you your Miranda rights in many situations, but you must invoke them.
Ways to invoke your Miranda rights
You can’t leave any doubts when you invoke your Miranda rights. This means that you must state your wish to invoke them very clearly. You may consider saying things like:
- I choose to remain silent until I speak to my legal representative.
- I wish to invoke my Miranda rights, including the right to remain silent.
- I refuse to answer any questions or make any statements to police officers.
Once you invoke your Miranda rights, the police officers must abide by the invocation. It includes all law enforcement officers, so they can’t call in another officer to resume questioning to try to get a statement out of you.
The Miranda rights are important because they can help to prevent self-incrimination, which is important because anything you can say can be used by the prosecution in the case against you. After invoking your rights, you can speak to your legal representative to determine the options you have for handling this matter.