The Statute that Time Forgot: 18 U.S.C. § 3501 and the Overhauling of Miranda

Abstract

§ 3501 requires the admission of all "voluntary" confessions without regard to technical compliance with the Miranda procedures. This article contends that the Court should uphold § 3501 against constitutional challenge and apply it, rather than Miranda, as the governing standard for admitting confessions in federal court. It reaches this conclusion by exploring one of the most curious features of the United States v. Dickerson ruling: that it came not at the behest of the United States, as represented by the Department of Justice, but rather of the Washington Legal Foundation, an amicus curiae. The article explores the Department of Justice's failure to defend § 3501 in the Fourth Circuit and the Supreme Court, and concludes that the Department of Justice lacks a plausible basis for it position. Reasonable, compelling arguments support the conclusions that § 3501 is a proper exercise of congressional power and that its enforcement is vital to the protection of public safety. This was, in fact the position of the Department of Justice for many years.

JEL Classification: K14, K4, K42