Waiver
Definition
The voluntary, knowing, and intelligent relinquishment of a known right. A valid Miranda waiver requires the suspect to understand the rights and to choose freely to give them up. Whether a waiver is 'knowing' given documented comprehension failures is one of the central questions in the empirical literature.
Related terms
- Cognitive demand
- The mental processing load a text or statement places on the reader or listener. High cognitive demand reduces accurate comprehension, particularly under...
- Comprehension assessment
- In the Miranda context, structured testing of a suspect's understanding of each element of the warning, using instruments such as Grisso's Instruments...
- Custodial interrogation
- Questioning by police of a person who is in custody, meaning their freedom of movement is restrained in a way a reasonable...
- Miranda warning
- The statement of rights that US police must deliver to a suspect before custodial interrogation, required by the Supreme Court's 1966 decision...
- PACE caution
- The rights caution used by police in England and Wales under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (as amended): 'You do...
Explained in
- Miranda Rights and Comprehension: What Suspects Actually UnderstandThe voluntary, knowing, and intelligent relinquishment of a known right. A valid Miranda waiver requires the suspect to understand the rights and to choose fre...