DEVIREDDY AP RESEARCH PROJECT
Context: The Miranda v. Arizona case involved Ernesto Miranda, who was imprisoned in 1963 for kidnapping and assaulting a woman. Despite his confession, he was not notified of his rights. Miranda's confession was admitted into evidence, although his defense claimed it was forced and involuntary. In 1966, the case reached the United States Supreme Court, and it set new criteria for police conduct during interrogations in custody. The court held that before being questioned, individuals must be notified of their rights, which include the right to stay silent, have an attorney present, and that anything that is said can be used in court. Miranda's conviction was overturned, and the outcome established Miranda rights also referred to as Miranda warnings, which protect people's constitutional rights during police interrogations. The public's reaction to the Miranda v. Arizona case is mixed, with some sympathizing with Miranda's situation and seeing Miranda's warnings as critical to defending constitutional rights. Others value safety and victim concerns over the suspect's rights, believing Miranda's confession was legally acquired. However, Miranda warnings are not intended to take sides with any individual, but rather to protect constitutional ideals and fair treatment for all parties involved in the criminal justice system. The Miranda case created procedural safeguards to prevent forced confessions and preserve individuals' rights throughout police interrogations. (Van Meter)
Gap in Research: Miranda v. Arizona has been significant in popular culture since the court's ruling. Numerous executions of the warnings and related custody interrogations have been represented in television, movies, novels, and other media (Chemerisky). They became so well-known due to their representation in television that many individuals recognized them right away. The representation of Miranda rights on television and other media is very important because of the widespread impact that popular media has on public knowledge and comprehension. Although earlier studies have looked at how Miranda rights are portrayed in several kinds of crime dramas, like Law and Order and NCIS, there is still a research gap when it comes to Criminal Minds. Given the popularity of the program and its ability to influence the audience's understanding of their custodial rights, this gap is especially important.
Process and Progress: There are a total of 15 seasons of Criminal Minds I could access through HULU. Out of these 15, I chose 5 seasons to code for Miranda rights. To select the seasons, I followed Peter Stone’s methodology. I selected the first, last, and middle seasons, and chose two more seasons in between those 2 sets of seasons. I followed this methodology because it helps to see the evolution of Miranda rights over a period of time, which is the second part of my research question. Due to time constraints, I randomly selected 7 episodes from each of the chosen seasons. To maintain randomness in the episode selection process, I used a random number generator function on my calculator. I followed the methodology used by Ian Farrell and Nancy Leong, who researched Miranda rights in NCIS and Law and Order, to code for Miranda rights portrayal. Their methodology included using a coding system that I adjusted to fit my limited time to research. With the help of my mentor, Mr. Paul, a former police officer, I went through the rubric and chose five sets of questions that were the most relevant and prominent in the context of crime television. These selected questions were then used to tally instances of Miranda warnings, violations, and related custodial interrogations depicted throughout the episodes.
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Roadblocks: Throughout this research process, one of my biggest roadblocks was time limitations. Due to the short timeframe for data collection, I was only able to analyze 7 episodes across 5 seasons. This is a really small sample size which limits the level of detail and scope of my conclusions. Expanding the scope of my study to include all episodes and seasons could strengthen my results, allowing for a more correct conclusion of Miranda rights' depiction in the television series as a whole. My results are naturally limited to only 35 episodes. While the data gathered so far may indicate either a high amount of accurately depicted Miranda rights or their complete absence from the episodes that were watched, the small sample size restricts definite claims about Miranda rights' overall representation in Criminal Minds.