Not Giving Warnings of the Rights to Be Silent Until Police Interrogation Produces Confession

In Missouri v. Seibert, 542 U.S. 600, 604, 124 S. Ct. 2601, 159 L. Ed. 2d 643 (2004), the Supreme Court addressed the propriety of "a police protocol for custodial interrogation that calls for giving no warnings of the rights to silence and counsel until interrogation has produced a confession." 542 U.S. at 604. The Supreme Court affirmed the suppression of the statements made after the Miranda warnings. The critical factual circumstance present in Seibert was a custodial interrogation conducted prior to the administration of a Miranda warning. In Seibert, the Supreme Court held that the tactic designed "to get a confession the suspect would not make if he understood his rights" was unconstitutional. Id. at 613. Such strategies not only undermine Miranda warnings, but thwart the purpose of reducing the risk of coerced confessions. Id. at 616-17.