A review of criminal justice undergraduate students' knowledge of Miranda Rights

• In Event: The Importance of School Safety, Higher Education, and Data Analytics in Policing

Abstract

The current study aims to better understand the levels of understanding of Miranda rights amongst college undergraduate students who are studying criminal justice. By considering many factors like race, education, closeness to law enforcement or attorneys, exposure to tv/movies that cover Miranda, and confidence in understanding, this study looks to narrow down the components of Miranda rights that are misunderstood and what could be contributing to misunderstanding. The data were collected from a vignette style survey that measured various factors that could be contributing to the understanding or misunderstanding of Miranda rights. Results indicate that there are differences in Miranda understanding across different components of Miranda. Accuracy in understanding was different in all six questions on the survey. However, results show that Black youth have much lower odds of being correct on questions that gauge understanding of Miranda. Specifically, black students had lower odds of being correct relative to white students on four out of six components of Miranda that were measured on the survey. This study will help the criminal justice system better understand the potential misconceptions of Miranda rights. Specifically, which components of Miranda are not being understood and what kind of people are lacking comprehension.

Author

• Ellen McLeod, Michigan State University