1 - Introduction

Summary

Chapter 1 examines the steps that are attendant to custodial interrogation in the United States. Many of these steps, and what they entail, are not readily known to the general public. Hence, to contextualize the corpus, Chapter 1 starts with a brief overview of what constitutes custodial interrogation, leading to a description of the federal court system that reviewed the cases. This examination will provide insights into the inner workings of the federal courts and the role of the judges in the federal court system. Chapter 1 also provides a brief overview of the common grounds for appeals in cases reviewing potential Miranda violations, as well as definitions for the terminology often referred to in the chapters. The chapter concludes with a brief analysis on the three key themes of the book: the legal foundation of police interrogation, the strategic features of invoking counsel in custodial settings, and tackling police interrogation reform in the United States.