With the increasing popularity of television shows and movies about the criminal justice system, Miranda warnings have become thoroughly enmeshed in American culture. Virtually everyone knows that there are certain warnings the police must give you if they bring a suspect down to the precinct for interrogation or to take a statement. A person has the right to remain silent, the right to have an attorney present during questioning, and to know that statements made may be used against the suspect at trial. Our society takes for granted that the police know and respect the rules which dictate that every suspect has to be advised of these rights prior to an interrogation and that if the suspect declines to waive those rights, that the police stand down.
But what if the police could get around these rules? What if they could find a way to elicit incriminating information from you, and even record it, without your knowledge that you are being interrogated and without giving you those Miranda rights? This is the basis of the “controlled call.”
