Document Type

Article

Publication Date

January 2017

Abstract

For fifty years, the core problem that gave rise to Miranda – namely, the coercive pressure of custodial interrogation – has remained largely unchanged. This article proposes bringing Miranda into the twenty-first century by developing a “Miranda App” to replace the existing, human Miranda warnings and waiver process with a digital, scripted computer program of videos, text, and comprehension assessments. The Miranda App would provide constitutionally adequate warnings, clarifying answers, contextual information, and age-appropriate instruction to suspects before interrogation. Designed by legal scholars, validated by social science experts, and tested by police, the Miranda App would address several decades of unsatisfactory Miranda process. The goal is not simply to invent a better process for informing suspects of their Miranda rights, but to use the design process itself to study what has failed in past practice. In the article, the authors summarize the problems with Miranda doctrine and practice and describe the Miranda App's design components. The article explains how the App will address many of the problems with Miranda practice in law enforcement. By removing the core problem with Miranda – police control over the administration of warnings and the elicitation of Miranda waiver and non-waivers – the authors argue that the criminal justice system can improve Miranda practice by bringing it into the digital age.

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