You have brought a suspect in a serious crime to the police station. So far, he has been silent. You read him his Miranda rights when you handcuffed him, and you also made him sign a written version of the rights while he was sitting at the interrogation table. You ask him again if he would like to talk about what happened and, this time, he says, "You know, I am very hungry and my blood sugar is

Question

starting to cause me some problems. Could you please give me some food, you lousy cop?" Angry, you leave the interrogation room for 20 minutes to fill out paperwork and let the suspect consider the situation. When you return, the suspect is even more agitated—demanding food, using profanity, and insulting you and your family. What should you do? What are the legal ramifications of your action or inaction?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Since the suspect has not invoked his right to remain silent or to have an attorney present, you are not required to end questioning, even though the suspect is in custody and a reasonable person in his situation would not feel able to leave. On the other hand, Miranda is not the only standard to apply and the court will look at the voluntariness of any confession under the Fifth Amendment. The belligerent suspect has said that he may be experiencing physical discomfort because he has not had anything to eat. If you decide to give him some food, he may be calm and more cooperative, and he may provide the information. However, without the food, he may eventually provide the information you need under duress. It is likely that a court would determine that failure to feed the suspect, under the circumstances, would render any confession a violation of his due process rights and, thus, inadmissible. So, even though the suspect is not nice, you should get him a sandwich before resuming questioning.