Withrow v. Williams, 507 U.S. 680, 12 (1993)

Page:   Index   Previous  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  Next

Cite as: 507 U. S. 680 (1993)

Opinion of the Court

(Miranda Court "recognized that these procedural safeguards were not themselves rights protected by the Constitution but were instead measures to insure that the right against compulsory self-incrimination was protected"). But cf. Quarles, supra, at 660 (opinion of O'Connor, J.) (Miranda Court "held unconstitutional, because inherently compelled, the admission of statements derived from in-custody questioning not preceded by an explanation of the privilege against self-incrimination and the consequences of forgoing it"). Calling the Miranda safeguards "prophylactic," however, is a far cry from putting Miranda on all fours with Mapp, or from rendering Miranda subject to Stone.

As we explained in Stone, the Mapp rule "is not a personal constitutional right," but serves to deter future constitutional violations; although it mitigates the juridical consequences of invading the defendant's privacy, the exclusion of evidence at trial can do nothing to remedy the completed and wholly extrajudicial Fourth Amendment violation. Stone, 428 U. S., at 486. Nor can the Mapp rule be thought to enhance the soundness of the criminal process by improving the reliability of evidence introduced at trial. Quite the contrary, as we explained in Stone, the evidence excluded under Mapp "is typically reliable and often the most probative information bearing on the guilt or innocence of the defendant." 428 U. S., at 490.

Miranda differs from Mapp in both respects. "Prophylactic" though it may be, in protecting a defendant's Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, Miranda safeguards "a fundamental trial right." United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez, 494 U. S. 259, 264 (1990) (emphasis added); cf. Kimmelman, 477 U. S., at 377 (Stone does not bar habeas review of claim that the personal trial right to effective assistance of counsel has been violated). The privilege embodies "principles of humanity and civil liberty, which had been secured in the mother country only after years of struggle," Bram, 168 U. S., at 544, and reflects

691

Page:   Index   Previous  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  Next

Last modified: October 4, 2007