You've heard them before. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." Generally, individuals believe that a police officer is required to provide every person whom they stop or with whom they speak their Miranda statements. However, that is not true. The Supreme Court has decided who needs to be informed of these rights and when.

While, Miranda warnings are named for the famous Supreme Court case, Miranda v. Arizona, the protections do not have their start in that case. Rather, the freedoms that we refer to as the Miranda rights are constitutional freedoms which the court determined needed to be provided to certain persons in police custody.

The exact constitutional limitations that are regularly referred to as the Miranda rights include the right to remain silent, the right against self incrimination and the right to an attorney during questioning and in court. The court also decided that the warnings contain at least the same level of precision as it set out in its ruling and that the warnings be meaningful for the stopped individuals.

Many courts add additional warnings to the typical Miranda statements that they think are important for the people in their municipalities. For example, some border states require law enforcement to tell detainees that if they are not U.S. citizens that they have the right to contact their country's consulate.

The Miranda rights need to be spoken by a law enforcement official to she who is a criminal suspect and in police custody before they begin to question the suspect about the circumstances surrounding the crime. The person is considered to be in law enforcement custody if a reasonable individual would believe that his or her freedom to leave is limited, regardless of whether the officials have formerly arrested the individual.

To make incriminating evidence admissible at trial, officials need to provide the person with his or her Miranda warnings prior to obtaining the evidence. A person who is in police custody must be informed of their rights before any police questioning. If the person is arrested and the police do not intend to question the person then the Miranda statements do not have to be spoken.