Your Rights When Dealing With the Police

Invoking Your Right to Remain Silent

You've seen it time after time on shows and in the movies: Cops slapping the cuffs on a "perp" and reading them their rights. But does it always happen that way? And can your silence actually be used against you sometimes?

Questioning Suspects in Custody: The Miranda Rule

Police must advise you of your 'Miranda rights' before initiating in-custody questioning.

Understanding Search-and-Seizure Law

Learn when the government can invade your privacy to hunt for evidence of a crime.

Fruit of the Poisonous Tree: Illegally Obtained Evidence

Fruit of the poisonous tree includes evidence gathered from just about any kind of police conduct that violates a defendant’s constitutional rights. The original evidence is inadmissible in court and so is any derivative evidence—unless an exception exists.

What Is the Patriot Act? How Can it Affect a Criminal Case?

Since just after 9/11, the U.S. government has greatly increased its surveillance of possible terrorist activity.

Arrest Warrants: What's in Them, How Police Get Them

Police must convince a neutral judge that, more likely than not, a crime has been committed and the subject of the warrant was involved.

When the Police Can Make an Arrest: Probable Cause

"Probable cause" requires more than a mere suspicion that a suspect committed a crime, but not as much information as would be required to prove a suspect guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Warrant Execution and Unreasonable Police Behavior

When the police knock on your door, you typically don’t have to let them in unless they have a search warrant signed by a judge.

Resisting Arrest When Police Use Excessive Force

In most states, arrestees can resist arrest if the officer uses excessive force that's likely to cause great harm, but the right to defend is limited.

Suing the Police for Excessive Force

Excessive force by the police during an arrest violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Learn what remedies a victim may have to sue the officer in court.