Cite as: 507 U. S. 680 (1993)
Opinion of O'Connor, J.
See Johnson, 384 U. S., at 730 (warnings are only one factor in determining voluntariness).
The Court's final rationale is that, because the federal courts rarely issue writs for Miranda violations, eliminating Miranda claims from habeas will not decrease state-federal tensions to an appreciable degree. Ante, at 694-695. The relative infrequency of relief, however, does not diminish the intrusion on state sovereignty; it diminishes only our justification for intruding in the first place. After all, even if relief is denied at the end of the day, the State still must divert its scarce prosecutorial resources to defend an otherwise final conviction. If relief is truly rare, efficiency counsels in favor of dispensing with the search for the prophylactic rule violation in a haystack; instead, the federal courts should concentrate on the search for true Fifth Amendment violations by adjudicating the questions of voluntariness and compulsion directly. I therefore find it of little moment that the Police Foundation et al. support respondent. Ante, at 695, n. 6. Those who bear the primary burden of defending state convictions in federal courts—including 36 States and the National District Attorneys Association— resoundingly support the opposite side. See Brief for California et al. as Amici Curiae; Brief for Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, Inc., and the National District Attorneys Association, Inc., as Amici Curiae; see also Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae (United States must defend against claims raised by federal prisoners under 28 U. S. C. § 2255).
The Court's response, that perhaps the police respect the Miranda rule as a result of "the existence of [habeas] review," ante, at 695, is contrary to both case law and common sense. As explained above, there is simply no reason to think that habeas relief, which often " 'strike[s] like lightning' " years after conviction, contributes much additional deterrence beyond the threat of exclusion during state proceedings. See supra, at 704 (quoting Duckworth, 492 U. S., at 211 (O'Connor, J., concurring)). Accord, Friendly, 38
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