Bad (U2 song)
1984 song by U2
"Bad" is a song by Irish rock band U2 and the seventh track on their 1984 album "The Unforgettable Fire". Thematically, the song is about heroin addiction, though lead vocalist Bono has given varying accounts of who was the inspiration behind his lyrics. "Bad" is considered a fan favourite and is one of U2's most frequently performed songs in concert. The band's 12-minute performance of the song at the Live Aid charity concert in 1985 was a breakthrough moment for them.
A live version of the song appears on U2's 1985 EP "Wide Awake in America"; this rendition became popular on album-oriented rock radio stations. In the United States, the song peaked at number 19 on the "Billboard" Top Rock Tracks chart. The album version of the song featured on the trailer of the 2009 film "Brothers" and in the opening and closing sequences of the 2004 film "Taking Lives".
History.
"Bad" originated from a guitar riff that the Edge improvised during a jam session at Slane Castle, where U2 were recording their 1984 album "The Unforgettable Fire." The basic track was completed in three takes. Of its immediate and live nature, the Edge said, "There's one moment where [drummer] Larry [Mullen Jr.] puts down brushes and takes up the sticks and it creates this pause which has an incredibly dramatic effect." Producer Brian Eno added the sequencer arpeggios that accompany the song.
The early 1980s recession had led to a high number of heroin addicts in inner city Dublin. In concert, lead vocalist Bono frequently introduced the song as a song about Dublin. The Edge and the album's producers, Eno and Daniel Lanois, were focused on the music and were less interested in the lyrics. Bono said that he left the song unfinished.
During the 3 December 1984 concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York City for the Unforgettable Fire Tour, Bono said the song was about heroin and that he wrote it for a friend and also for himself; in discussing this comment during a 17 December radio interview, Bono said, "Well, I think I said I wrote the song for a friend of mine; I also wrote it for myself because you can be addicted to anything. And, you know, that song's not just about heroin: it's about a lot of things. None of our songs, really, are just about one thing."
There are other versions of the story from Bono himself. His account from a 1987 concert in Chicago during the Joshua Tree Tour indicate "Bad" is about a friend of his who died of a heroin overdose and also about the conditions that make such events likely to be repeated. Bono once commented in another concert (in the UK) about people lying in gutters with "needles hangin' outta their fuckin' arms while the rich live indifferently to the suffering of the less fortunate." At Eriksberg, Gothenburg in Sweden 1987, he said: "I wrote the words about a friend of mine; his name was Gareth Spaulding, and on his 21st birthday he and his friends decided to give themselves a present of enough heroin into his veins to kill him. This song is called 'Bad.'"
During a 26 July 2011 concert in Pittsburgh during the U2 360° Tour, Bono introduced a performance of "Bad" as a song written for a "very special man, who is here in your city, who grew up on Cedarwood Road. We wrote this song about him and we play it for him tonight." He was referring to Andy Rowen, whom the song was written about in 1984 and who was present at the show. Rowen is the brother of Bono's Lypton Village friend Guggi and Peter Rowen, who is featured on the sleeve artwork for the band's albums "Boy" (1980) and "War" (1983).
Live performances.
"Bad" is one of the band's most performed songs. Translating the elaborate and complex textures of the new studio-recorded tracks to live performance proved to be a serious challenge when the Unforgettable Fire Tour commenced. One solution was programmed sequencers, which the band had previously been reluctant to use. Sequencers were prominently used on "Bad".
The studio version of "Bad" was criticised as being "unfinished", "fuzzy" and "unfocused", but the band found that it made more sense on stage. "Rolling Stone", for example, critical of the album version, described its live performance as a "show stopper".
A staple of U2's concert tours of the 1980s, "Bad" was also frequently performed during the first four legs of the 1992–1993 Zoo TV Tour. Although not played until the fourth leg of the PopMart Tour of 1997 and 1998, it returned to the normal set list for 2001's Elevation Tour and saw occasional performances during the Vertigo Tour of 2005 and 2006, sometimes even appearing as the closing song for shows. It made very sporadic appearances on the U2 360° Tour and has featured occasionally on the 2015 Innocence + Experience Tour.
The song once again returned to the normal setlist for both the Joshua Tree Tours 2017 and 2019, typically being played early on in the set with other pre-"The Joshua Tree" era hits. The Experience + Innocence Tour however (which took place in 2018 between the 2017 and 2019 legs of "The Joshua Tree" anniversary tours) did not feature a single performance of the song, making it the first tour in U2's history where the song was not performed.
Bono is known for singing a wide variety of snippets during performances of "Bad". Lyrics from over 50 different songs have been included in "Bad", ranging from brief quotes of a single line through to multiple verses. These snippets are typically sung after the line "I'm not sleeping" and Bono has included up to six different excerpts in a single performance of "Bad". Performances without at least one snippet are very rare.
Live Aid.
U2 participated in the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium for Ethiopian famine relief on 13 July 1985. They played a 12-minute version of "Bad", which was extended by snippets of Lou Reed's "Satellite of Love" and "Walk on the Wild Side", and The Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" and "Sympathy for the Devil". During the performance, Bono leaped down off the stage to embrace and dance with a fan. In 2005 the girl with whom he danced, who was at the front to see Wham!, revealed that he actually saved her life at the time. She was being crushed by the throngs of people pushing forwards; Bono saw this, and gestured frantically at the ushers to help her. They did not understand what he was saying, and so he jumped down to help her himself. Bono's rescue of and dance with the girl was captured on the TV broadcast sent around the world. The performance was so long that the band were only able to play two of the three songs in their set, leaving out "Pride (In the Name of Love)", which was supposed to end the band's performance. The concert turned out to be a breakthrough moment for the band, showing a television audience of millions the personal connection that Bono could make with audiences. A week later, Bono realized that the dance with the fan became a key image of Live Aid. All of U2's albums re-entered the UK Albums Chart after their performance.
Discography.
"Bad" is the first track on the 1985 EP "Wide Awake in America", this being a live version recorded at Birmingham's NEC Arena on November 12, 1984 during sound check. This version includes prerecorded rhythm tracks. There are no other snippets of songs on this version for copyright reasons. Three other versions of "Bad" have been officially released by the band. An edit of the version from "The Unforgettable Fire" appears on the 1998 compilation "The Best of 1980–1990"; with the exception of the hidden version of "October", "Bad" is the only non-single to appear on the compilation. In addition to the live performance included on "Wide Awake in America", a live version from 1987's Joshua Tree Tour appears in the rockumentary "Rattle and Hum" and a version from 2001's Elevation Tour appears in the concert film "" (with a snippet of "40" at the end and therefore credited as "Bad / '40'"). For the release of the 2004 digital box set "The Complete U2", another live version of "Bad" was included on the live album "Live from the Point Depot".
An acoustic version of "Bad" with lyrical changes is included on U2's 2023 album "Songs of Surrender".
References.
Footnotes
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Bibliography

List of cover versions of U2 songs
This list shows cover versions of songs originally by the Irish rock band U2 that have been recorded and released.
"40".
"40" is the tenth and final track from U2's 1983 album, "War". It is the final single from the album, released solely in Germany in 1983. The song was recorded right at the end of the recording sessions for "War". Bassist Adam Clayton had already left the studio, and the three remaining band members decided they did not have a good song to end the album. Bono noted that "We spent ten minutes writing this song, ten minutes recording it, ten minutes mixing it, ten minutes playing it back, and that's got nothing to do with why it's called '40'."
Acrobat.
"Acrobat" is the eleventh track from U2's 1991 album "Achtung Baby".
All I Want Is You.
"All I Want Is You" is the 17th song on U2's 1988 album, "Rattle and Hum" and was released in 1989 as the album's fourth and final single. It is the closing song from the movie "Rattle and Hum".
An Cat Dubh.
"An Cat Dubh" is the third track from U2's debut album, "Boy". It is frequently paired with the following song from the same album, "Into the Heart".
Angel of Harlem.
"Angel of Harlem" is the second single from U2's 1988 album, "Rattle and Hum". It peaked at #9 on the UK singles chart. It is an homage to Billie Holiday.
Bad.
"Bad" is the seventh track from U2's 1984 album, "The Unforgettable Fire". Often considered a fan favorite, it is U2's tenth most frequently performed song in concert. The song is about a heroin addiction.
Beautiful Day.
"Beautiful Day" is the lead single from U2's 2000 album, "All That You Can't Leave Behind". It was a huge commercial success, helping to launch the album to multi-platinum status, and is one of U2's biggest hits to date.
Breathe.
"Breathe" is the tenth track from U2's 2009 album "No Line on the Horizon". Longtime U2 collaborator and producer Brian Eno cited "Breathe" as "the best thing (U2) have ever recorded" during an interview with "Q" magazine.
Bullet the Blue Sky.
"Bullet the Blue Sky" is the fourth track from U2's 1987 album, "The Joshua Tree". The song was originally written about the United States' military intervention during the 1980s in the El Salvador Civil War.
City of Blinding Lights.
"City of Blinding Lights" is the fifth track and third single from the group's 2004 album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb". The song tells the story of U2's first arrival in New York City in 1980, with Bono remarking it was an "amazing, magical time in our life, when we didn't know how powerful it was not to know."
Desire.
"Desire" is the lead single from U2's 1988 album, "Rattle and Hum". It was their first #1 single in the UK and their first #1 on the newly instated Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Drowning Man.
"Drowning Man" is the fifth track on U2's 1983 album, "War". Its sound is a departure from the other tracks in "War".
The Electric Co..
"The Electric Co." is the tenth track from U2's debut album, "Boy". When performed live it is frequently preceded by the unrecorded song, "The Cry".
Elevation.
"Elevation" is the third track and third single release from U2's 2000 album, "All That You Can't Leave Behind". Featuring a thunderous beat, a variety of sound effects on the central guitar riff, and an easy rhyming lyric for the audience to shout along with, it was highly effective in that concert-starting role and became a hit in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Even Better Than the Real Thing.
"Even Better Than the Real Thing" is the second song from U2's 1991 album, "Achtung Baby" and was released in 1992 as the fourth single from the album.
Exit.
Exit is the 10th track of U2's "Joshua Tree", released in 1987.
The Fly.
"The Fly" is the seventh song on U2's 1991 album, "Achtung Baby" and was released as the album's first single. It has been described as "the sound of four men chopping down the Joshua Tree." The song's subject is that of a phone call from someone in Hell who enjoys being there and telling the person on the other line what he has learned. "The Fly" was an introduction to the sonic and electronic experimentation that would dominate U2's 1990s work.
Get on Your Boots.
"Get on Your Boots" is the lead single and sixth track from "No Line on the Horizon".
Gloria.
"Gloria" was the second single and opening track from U2's 1981 album, "October".
God Part II.
"God Part II" is the fourteenth track from U2's 1988 album, "Rattle and Hum". The song is a departure from the sound of the album's other studio recordings, and is an introduction to the darker sound the band would adopt for the release of their next album, "Achtung Baby".
Grace.
"Grace" is the final track from U2's 2000 album, "All That You Can't Leave Behind".
Heartland.
"Heartland" is the thirteenth track from U2's 1988 album, "Rattle and Hum". Unlike the other studio tracks from the album, "Heartland" was left over from "The Joshua Tree" sessions.
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me.
"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" is a single by U2 from the "Batman Forever" soundtrack album, released in 1995. It was also included on the compilation album, "The Best of 1990-2000". As well as all the covers, "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the song as "Cavity Search" for his 1996 album "Bad Hair Day".
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is the second track from U2's 1987 album "The Joshua Tree", and was released as the album's second single. The song grew from another song called "Under the Weather Girls", from which Larry Mullen Jr.'s drum track was used as a foundation. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is the most frequently covered U2 song.
I Will Follow.
"I Will Follow" is the opening track from U2's debut album, "Boy". It was written by Bono about the death of his mother, who died of a brain hemorrhage at the funeral of her father.
I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight.
"I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" is the third single and fifth track from the 2009 album "No Line on the Horizon". The track underwent several name changes during the album sessions, known first as "Diorama" and then "Crazy Tonight" before the final selection. Several of the song's lyrics were influenced by Barack Obama's presidential campaign. The song was used in television commercials for a new Blackberry application, called the "U2 Mobile App", which was developed as part of Research in Motion's sponsorship of the U2 360° Tour.
In a Little While.
"In a Little While" is the sixth track from U2's 2000 album "All That You Can't Leave Behind". While originally about a hangover, Bono later stated that the song's connection to Joey Ramone—being the last song he heard before his death in 2001—has given it a deeper religious meaning, and he now refers to it as a Gospel song". "In a Little While" was played often throughout the Elevation Tour, and was frequently snippeted inside "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" during the Vertigo Tour.
In God's Country.
"In God's Country" is the seventh track and fourth single from U2's 1987 album, "The Joshua Tree". A live version of the song appears in the U2 rockumentary, "Rattle and Hum".
Like a Song....
"Like a Song..." is the fourth track from U2's 1983 album, "War". It was only played live once, on 26 February 1983 in Dundee, Scotland.
Love Is Blindness.
"Love Is Blindness" is the twelfth and final song from U2's 1991 album, "Achtung Baby". Much of the album relates to love gone wrong, in one form or another; the lyrics to "Love Is Blindness" reflect this theme, juxtaposing love and violent imagery.
Love Rescue Me.
"Love Rescue Me" is the eleventh track from U2's 1988 album, "Rattle and Hum". It is a collaboration between the band and Bob Dylan, who also provides vocals to the recording.
Magnificent.
"Magnificent" is the second track and single from "No Line on the Horizon". The track was originally titled "French Disco", but was renamed during the recording process.
Miss Sarajevo.
"Miss Sarajevo" is the only single from the 1995 album "Original Soundtracks 1" by U2, under the pseudonym Passengers. Luciano Pavarotti makes a guest vocal appearance, singing the opera solo. It also appears on the compilation album, "The Best of 1990–2000".
MLK.
"MLK" is the tenth and final track of U2's 1984 album, "The Unforgettable Fire". A lullaby to honor Martin Luther King Jr., it is a short, pensive piece with simple lyrics.
Moment of Surrender.
"Moment of Surrender" is the third track from "No Line on the Horizon". The song tells the story of a heroin addict's spiritual awakening at an automated teller machine.
Mothers of the Disappeared.
"Mothers of the Disappeared" is the eleventh and final track from U2's 1987 album, "The Joshua Tree".
Mysterious Ways.
"Mysterious Ways" is the eighth track on U2's 1991 album, "Achtung Baby", and was released as the album's second single.
New Year's Day.
"New Year's Day" is the third song and lead single from U2's 1983 album, "War". The song is driven by Adam Clayton's distinctive bassline and The Edge's keyboard. It was the band's first hit single, breaking the top ten in the UK and charting on the "Billboard" Hot 100 for the first time in their career. In 2004, "Rolling Stone" magazine placed the single at number 427 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
No Line on the Horizon.
"No Line on the Horizon" is the opening and title track from the 2009 album "No Line on the Horizon".
North and South of the River.
"North and South of the River" is a B-side to the 1997 single "Staring at the Sun".
Numb.
"Numb" is the third track from U2's 1993 album, "Zooropa", and was released as the album's first single.
October.
"October" is the seventh and title track from U2's 1981 album, "October". It is a departure from U2's classic sound, as it is a quiet, almost instrumental piece. It was included as a hidden track on "The Best of 1980–1990".
One.
"One" is the third song from U2's 1991 album, "Achtung Baby", and was released as a single in 1992. Tensions during the recording of the album almost prompted U2 to break-up until the band rallied around the writing of "One". It is widely considered to be one of the band's greatest songs and is consistently featured in lists of the greatest songs of all time, including "Rolling Stone"'s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, where it placed #36, and #1 on "Q Magazine"'s list of the 1001 Greatest Songs of All-Time.
One Tree Hill.
"One Tree Hill" is the ninth track and final single from U2's 1987 album, "The Joshua Tree". The single was released as a single exclusively in New Zealand in 1988, where it reached number one. The title of the song refers to One Tree Hill, a volcanic peak in Auckland, New Zealand.
Pride (In the Name of Love).
"Pride (In the Name of Love)" is the second song on U2's 1984 album, "The Unforgettable Fire" and was released as the album's first single. Written about Martin Luther King Jr., it is one of the band's most recognized songs.
Promenade.
"Promenade" is the fifth track on U2's 1984 album, "The Unforgettable Fire".
Red Hill Mining Town.
"Red Hill Mining Town" is the sixth track from U2's 1987 album, "The Joshua Tree".
Running to Stand Still.
"Running to Stand Still" is the fifth track from U2's 1987 album, "The Joshua Tree". It is a soft, slow, keyboard-based song about a heroin-addicted woman from the Ballymun Seven Towers area of Dublin.
Seconds.
"Seconds" is the second track on U2's 1983 album, "War". The track contains a clip from the 1982 documentary "Soldier Girls", and is the first song by the band not sung solely by Bono; The Edge sings the first two stanzas.
So Cruel.
"So Cruel" is the sixth track from U2's 1991 album, "Achtung Baby".
Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own.
"Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" is the second single from U2's 2004 album, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb". It was released in the United Kingdom in February 2005, and debuted at #1 on the UK Singles Chart. The song won Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Song of the Year at the 2006 Grammy Awards.
Stay (Faraway, So Close!).
"Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" is the fifth track from U2's 1993 album, "Zooropa", and was released as the album's third single on November 22, 1993. It was released on the soundtrack for the Wim Wenders film, "Faraway, So Close!". While speaking with "Rolling Stone", Bono noted that "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" is one of his personal favourite, and one of their most underrated, U2 songs.
Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of.
"Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" is a single release from U2's 2000 album, "All That You Can't Leave Behind". It won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 2002.
Sunday Bloody Sunday.
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is the opening track and third single from U2's 1983 album, "War". The song is noted for its militaristic drumbeat, simple but harsh guitar, and melodic harmonies. One of U2's most overtly political songs, its lyrics describe the horror felt by an observer of The Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Sweetest Thing.
"Sweetest Thing", sometimes titled "The Sweetest Thing", is a B-side to the "Where the Streets Have No Name" single. It was re-recorded and released as a single for the 1998 compilation album "The Best of 1980-1990". The song was written by Bono as an apology to his wife for forgetting her birthday during the creation of "The Joshua Tree".
Tomorrow.
"Tomorrow" is the sixth track on 1981's "October" album.
Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World.
"Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" is the ninth track on the 1991 album, "Achtung Baby". The song is a lighthearted account of a drunken journey home.
Two Hearts Beat as One.
"Two Hearts Beat as One" is the seventh track on U2's 1983 album, "War". It was released as the album's second single but only in the US, UK and Australia.
Ultraviolet (Light My Way).
"Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" is the tenth track from U2's 1991 album "Achtung Baby".
The Unforgettable Fire.
"The Unforgettable Fire" is the fourth track from the 1984 album of the same name, and was released in 1985 as the album's second and last single. The title is a reference to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan in World War II.
Unknown Caller.
"Unknown Caller" is the fourth track from the 2009 album "No Line on the Horizon". According to The Edge, "the idea is that the narrator is in an altered state, and his phone starts talking to him".
Until the End of the World.
"Until the End of the World" is the fourth track from U2's 1991 album, "Achtung Baby". The song is reputed to describe a conversation between Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot.
Vertigo.
"Vertigo" is the lead single and opening track for the 2004 album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb". The track was an international hit, winning three Grammy awards at the 2005 event and being featured in an iPod commercial.
The Wanderer.
"The Wanderer" is the tenth and final track on the 1993 album "Zooropa". The song features Johnny Cash on lead vocals and tells the story of a man searching for God in the ruins of a post-apocalyptic world. The song has only been performed live once, as a posthumous tribute to Johnny Cash, with Bono singing lead vocals.
Wake Up Dead Man.
"Wake Up Dead Man" is the closing track from the 1997 album "Pop". The title was first revealed in 1993, as part of it was superimposed on the cover of the album "Zooropa".
Walk On.
"Walk On" is the fourth single and track from the album "All That You Can't Leave Behind". Written about and dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, the track is banned in Burma, and anyone who has possession of either the single of the song or the album could face a prison sentence lasting between three and twenty years. The title for "All That You Can't Leave Behind" stems from lyrics in the song.
When Love Comes to Town.
"When Love Comes to Town" was a collaboration between U2 and B.B. King, released as a single for the album "Rattle and Hum".
Where the Streets Have No Name.
"Where the Streets Have No Name" is the third single from the 1987 album "The Joshua Tree". The track's signature is a repeating guitar arpeggio utilizing a delay effect that is played at the beginning and end of the song. The song's frequent chord and time changes caused problems in playing the song correctly; the difficulty was so great that producer Brian Eno attempted to erase the track. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. later said of the song, "It took so long to get that song right, it was difficult for us to make any sense of it. It only became a truly great song through playing live. On the record, musically, it's not half the song it is live."
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses.
"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" was released in 1992 as the fifth and final single for the 1991 album "Achtung Baby".
With or Without You.
"With or Without You" is the lead single from U2's 1987 album, "The Joshua Tree". It has since become highly acclaimed as one of the band's most popular songs. Released as a single in March 1987, it became the group's first American #1 hit.
Zoo Station.
"Zoo Station" is the first track on U2's 1991 album "Achtung Baby".
1. <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^ On this release, the title of "Drowning Man" was changed to "Drowning Man (Drowning)".
2. <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^ This cover of "Even Better Than the Real Thing" was released as the "Julian Beeston Mix".
3. <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^ This cover was in Serbian language and entitled "Model donjeg veša" (transl. "Lingerie Model").
4. <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^ The songs "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" were combined on this track.
5. <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^ Live version recorded in a 2005 BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge; track was not released until November 2009.
6. <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^ This cover of "Discothèque" was released as the "Suspiria Mix".
References.
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Sunday Bloody Sunday
1983 song by U2
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the opening track from their 1983 album "War" and was released as the album's third single on 21 March 1983 in the Netherlands and West Germany. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" is noted for its militaristic drumbeat, harsh guitar, and melodic harmonies. One of U2's most overtly political songs, its lyrics describe the horror felt by an observer of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, mainly focusing on the 1972 Bloody Sunday incident in Derry where British troops shot and killed unarmed civil rights protesters. Along with "New Year's Day", the song helped U2 reach a wider listening audience. It was generally well received by critics on the album's release.
The song has remained a staple of U2's live concerts. During its earliest performances, the song created controversy. Lead singer Bono reasserted the song's anti-sectarian-violence message to his audience for many years. Today, it is considered one of U2's signature songs, and is one of the band's most performed tracks. Critics rate it among the best political protest songs, and it has been covered by over a dozen artists. In 2004, it was ranked 268th on "Rolling Stone"'s list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Writing and recording.
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" grew from a guitar riff and lyric written by the Edge in 1982. While newlyweds Bono and Ali Hewson honeymooned in Jamaica, the Edge worked in Ireland on music for the band's upcoming album. Following an argument with his girlfriend Aislinn O'Sullivan, and a period of doubt in his own song-writing abilities, the Edge—"feeling depressed... channelled [his] fear and frustration and self-loathing into a piece of music." This early draft did not yet have a title or chorus melody, but did contain a structural outline and theme. After Bono had reworked the lyrics, the band recorded the song at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin. During the sessions, producer Steve Lillywhite encouraged drummer Larry Mullen Jr. to use a click track, but Mullen was firmly against the idea. A chance meeting with Andy Newmark of Sly & the Family Stone – a drummer who used a click track religiously – changed Mullen's mind. The opening drum pattern soon developed into the song's hook. A local violinist, Steve Wickham, approached the Edge one morning at a bus stop and asked if U2 had any need for a violin on their next album. Wickham spent half a day in the studio recording an electric violin track that became the final instrumental contribution to the song.
The direct impetus for the lyrics was an encounter with Provisional IRA supporters in New York City. As a promotional gimmick, U2 manager Paul McGuinness had made arrangements for the band to appear in the 1982 St. Patrick's Day parade. However, he later found that there was a possibility that Bobby Sands, an IRA hunger striker who had starved to death the previous year, would be the parade's honorary marshal. As they felt that the IRA's tactics were prolonging the fighting in Northern Ireland, McGuinness and the band members mutually decided they should withdraw from the parade. McGuinness met with one of the parade's organizers in a New York bar to arrange the cancellation, and ended up in a heated debate about the IRA. McGuinness recalled, "He kept telling me to keep my voice down. The place was full of New York policemen – Irish cops – and he thought I was going to get us killed."
Drummer Mullen said of the song in 1983:
We're into the politics of people, we're not into politics. Like you talk about Northern Ireland, 'Sunday Bloody Sunday,' people sort of think, 'Oh, that time when 13 Catholics were shot by British soldiers'; that's not what the song is about. That's an incident, the most famous incident in Northern Ireland and it's the strongest way of saying, 'How long? How long do we have to put up with this?' I don't care who's who – Catholics, Protestants, whatever. You know people are dying every single day through bitterness and hate, and we're saying why? What's the point? And you can move that into places like El Salvador and other similar situations – people dying. Let's forget the politics, let's stop shooting each other and sit around the table and talk about it... There are a lot of bands taking sides saying politics is crap, etc. Well, so what! The real battle is people dying, that's the real battle.
Composition.
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" is played at a tempo of 103 beats per minute in a time signature. The song opens with a militaristic drumbeat and electric violin part; the aggressive snare drum rhythm closely resembles a beat used to keep a military band in step. The distinctive drum sound was achieved by recording Mullen's drumwork at the base of a staircase, producing a more natural reverb. It is followed by the Edge's repeating arpeggios (see notation at left). The riff, which follows a Bbm–Db–F#6 chord progression, establishes the minor chord territory of the piece. As the song progresses, the lyrics and guitar become more furious. The guitar riff has been described as the "


Miranda v. Arizona
1966 U.S. Supreme Court case establishing the use of the Miranda warning
1966 United States Supreme Court case
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that law enforcement in the United States must warn a person of their constitutional rights before interrogating them, or else the person's statements cannot be used as evidence at their trial. Specifically, the Court held that under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the government cannot use a person's statements made in response to an interrogation while in police custody as evidence at the person's criminal trial unless they can show that the person was informed of the right to consult with a lawyer before and during questioning, and of the right against self-incrimination before police questioning, and that the defendant not only understood these rights but also voluntarily waived them before answering questions.
"Miranda" was viewed by many as a radical change in American criminal law, since the Fifth Amendment was traditionally understood only to protect Americans against formal types of compulsion to confess, such as threats of contempt of court. It has had a significant impact on law enforcement in the United States, by making what became known as the "Miranda" warning part of routine police procedure to ensure that suspects were informed of their rights, which would become known as ""Miranda" rights". The concept of "Miranda warnings" quickly caught on across American law enforcement agencies, who came to call the practice "Mirandizing".
Pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court decision "Berghuis v. Thompkins" (2010), criminal suspects who are aware of their right to silence and to an attorney but choose not to "unambiguously" invoke them may find any subsequent voluntary statements treated as an implied waiver of their rights, and used as or as part of evidence.
Background.
Legal.
In 1951 "Legal Aid in the United States", a report in the Survey of the Legal Profession series, was published by the American Bar Association. It identified large gaps in the availability of legal services in both civil and criminal cases for those unable to afford a lawyer. By the early 1960s, in response to the report, efforts by various bar associations to expand legal aid for defendants had resulted in a substantial increase in services albeit still with large areas of the country underserved.
In the civil realm, it led to the creation of the Legal Services Corporation under the Great Society program of Lyndon B. Johnson. "Escobedo v. Illinois", a case which closely foreshadowed "Miranda," provided for the presence of counsel during police interrogation.
Factual.
On March 13, 1963, Ernesto Miranda was arrested by the Phoenix Police Department officers Carroll Cooley and Wilfred Young, based on circumstantial evidence linking him to the kidnapping and rape of an 18-year-old woman 10 days earlier. After two hours of interrogation by police officers, Miranda signed a confession to the rape charge on forms that included the typed statement: "I do hereby swear that I make this statement voluntarily and of my own free will, with no threats, coercion, or promises of immunity, and with full knowledge of my legal rights, understanding any statement I make may be used against me."
However, at no time was Miranda told of his right to counsel. Before being presented with the form on which he was asked to write out the confession that he had already given orally, he was not advised of his right to remain silent, nor was he informed that his statements during the interrogation would be used against him. At trial, when prosecutors offered Miranda's written confession as evidence, his court-appointed lawyer, Alvin Moore, objected that because of these facts, the confession was not truly voluntary and should be excluded. Moore's objection was overruled, and based on this confession and other evidence, Miranda was convicted of rape and kidnapping. He was sentenced to 20–30 years of imprisonment on each charge, with sentences to run concurrently. Moore filed Miranda's appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court, claiming that Miranda's confession was not fully voluntary and should not have been admitted into the court proceedings. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's decision to admit the confession in "State v. Miranda", 401 P.2d 721 (Ariz. 1965). In affirmation, the Arizona Supreme Court heavily emphasized the fact that Miranda did not specifically request an attorney.
Attorney John Paul Frank, former law clerk to Justice Hugo Black, represented Miranda in his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Gary K. Nelson represented Arizona.
Supreme Court decision.
On June 13, 1966, the Supreme Court issued a 5–4 decision in Miranda's favor that overturned his conviction and remanded his case back to Arizona for retrial.
Opinion of the Court.
Five justices formed the majority and joined an opinion written by Chief Justice Earl Warren. The Court ruled that because of the coercive nature of the custodial interrogation by police (Warren cited several police training manuals that had not been provided in the arguments), no confession could be admissible under the Fifth Amendment self-incrimination clause and Sixth Amendment right to an attorney unless a suspect has been made aware of his rights and the suspect has then waived them:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />The person in custody must, prior to interrogation, be clearly informed that he has the right to remain silent, and that anything he says will be used against him in court; he must be clearly informed that he has the right to consult with a lawyer and to have the lawyer with him during interrogation, and that, if he is indigent, a lawyer will be appointed to represent him.
Thus, Miranda's conviction was overturned. The Court also made clear what must happen if a suspect chooses to exercise their rights:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />If the individual indicates in any manner, at any time prior to or during questioning, that he wishes to remain silent, the interrogation must cease ... If the individual states that he wants an attorney, the interrogation must cease until an attorney is present. At that time, the individual must have an opportunity to confer with the attorney and to have him present during any subsequent questioning.
Warren also pointed to the existing procedures of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which required informing a suspect of his right to remain silent and his right to counsel, provided free of charge if the suspect was unable to pay. If the suspect requested counsel, "the interview is terminated." Warren included the FBI's four-page brief in his opinion.
Clark's concurrence in part, dissent in part.
In a separate concurrence in part, dissent in part, Justice Tom C. Clark argued that the Warren Court went "too far too fast." Instead, Justice Clark would use the "totality of the circumstances" test enunciated by Justice Goldberg in "Haynes v. Washington". Under this test, the court would:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />consider in each case whether the police officer prior to custodial interrogation added the warning that the suspect might have counsel present at the interrogation and, further, that a court would appoint one at his request if he was too poor to employ counsel. In the absence of warnings, the burden would be on the State to prove that counsel was knowingly and intelligently waived or that in the totality of the circumstances, including the failure to give the necessary warnings, the confession was clearly voluntary.
Harlan's dissent.
In dissent, Justice John Marshall Harlan II wrote that "nothing in the letter or the spirit of the Constitution or in the precedents squares with the heavy-handed and one-sided action that is so precipitously taken by the Court in the name of fulfilling its constitutional responsibilities." Harlan closed his remarks by quoting former Justice Robert H. Jackson: "This Court is forever adding new stories to the temples of constitutional law, and the temples have a way of collapsing when one story too many is added."
White's dissent.
Justice Byron White took issue with the court having announced a new constitutional right when it had no "factual and textual bases" in the Constitution or previous opinions of the Court for the rule announced in the opinion. He stated: "The proposition that the privilege against self-incrimination forbids in-custody interrogation without the warnings specified in the majority opinion and without a clear waiver of counsel has no significant support in the history of the privilege or in the language of the Fifth Amendment." White did not believe the right had any basis in English common law.
White further warned of the dire consequences of the majority opinion:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />I have no desire whatsoever to share the responsibility for any such impact on the present criminal process.
In some unknown number of cases, the Court's rule will return a killer, a rapist or other criminal to the streets and to the environment which produced him, to repeat his crime whenever it pleases him. As a consequence, there will not be a gain, but a loss, in human dignity.
Subsequent developments.
Retrial.
Miranda was retried in 1967 after the original case against him was thrown out. This time the prosecution, instead of using the confession, introduced other evidence and called witnesses. One witness was Twila Hoffman, a woman with whom Miranda was living at the time of the offense; she testified that he had told her of committing the crime. Miranda was convicted in 1967 and sentenced to serve 20 to 30 years. The Supreme Court of Arizona affirmed, and the United States Supreme Court denied review. Miranda was paroled in 1972. After his release, he returned to his old neighborhood and made a modest living autographing police officers' "Miranda cards" that contained the text of the warning for reading to arrestees. Miranda was stabbed to death during an argument in a bar on January 31, 1976. A suspect was arrested, but due to a lack of evidence against him, he was released.
Another three defendants whose cases had been tied in with Miranda's – an armed robber, a stick-up man, and a bank robber – either made plea bargains to lesser charges or were found guilty again despite the exclusion of their confessions.
Reaction.
The "Miranda" decision was widely criticized when it came down, as many felt it was unfair to inform suspected criminals of their rights, as outlined in the decision. Richard Nixon and conservatives denounced "Miranda" for undermining the efficiency of the police, and argued the ruling would contribute to an increase in crime. Nixon, upon becoming president, promised to appoint judges who would reverse the philosophy that he viewed as "soft on crime." Many supporters of law enforcement were angered by the decision's negative view of police officers.
Miranda warning.
After the "Miranda" decision, the nation's police departments were required to inform arrested persons or suspects of their rights under the ruling prior to custodial interrogation or their answers would not be admissible in court. Such information is called a Miranda warning. Since it is usually required that the suspects be asked if they understand their rights, courts have also ruled that any subsequent waiver of Miranda rights must be knowing, intelligent, and voluntary.
Many American police departments have pre-printed Miranda waiver forms that a suspect must sign and date (after hearing and reading the warnings again) if an interrogation is to occur.
Data from the FBI Uniform Crime Reports show a sharp reduction in the clearance rate of violent and property crimes after "Miranda". However, according to other studies from the 1960s and 1970s, "contrary to popular belief, Miranda had little, if any, effect on detectives' ability to solve crimes."
Legal developments.
The federal Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 purported to overrule "Miranda" for federal criminal cases and restore the "totality of the circumstances" test that had prevailed previous to "Miranda". The validity of this provision of the law, which is still codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3501, was not ruled on for another 30 years because the Justice Department never attempted to rely on it to support the introduction of a confession into evidence at any criminal trial.
"Miranda" was undermined by several subsequent decisions that seemed to grant exceptions to the Miranda warnings, challenging the ruling's claim to be a necessary corollary of the Fifth Amendment. The exceptions and developments that occurred over the years included:
"United States v. Garibay" (1998) clarified an important matter regarding the scope of "Miranda". Defendant Jose Garibay barely spoke English and clearly showed a lack of understanding; indeed, "the agent admitted that he had to rephrase questions when the defendant appeared confused." Because of the defendant's low I.Q. and poor English-language skills, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that it was a "clear error" when the district court found that Garibay had "knowingly and intelligently waived his Miranda rights." The court investigated his waiver and discovered that it was missing all items for which they were looking: he never signed a waiver, he only received his warnings verbally and in English, and no interpreter was provided although they were available. With an opinion that stressed "the requirement that a defendant 'knowingly and intelligently' waive his Miranda rights," the Court reversed Garibay's conviction and remanded his case.
"Miranda" survived a strong challenge in "Dickerson v. United States", 530 U.S. 428 (2000), when the validity of Congress's overruling of "Miranda" through § 3501 was tested. At issue was whether the Miranda warnings were actually compelled by the Constitution, or were rather merely measures enacted as a matter of judicial policy. In "Dickerson", the Court, speaking through Chief Justice Rehnquist, upheld "Miranda" 7–2 and stated that "the warnings have become part of our national culture". In dissent, Justice Scalia argued that "Miranda" warnings were not constitutionally required. He cited several cases demonstrating a majority of the then-current court, counting himself, and Justices Kennedy, O'Connor, and Thomas, as well as Rehnquist (who had just delivered a contrary opinion), "[were] on record as believing that a violation of Miranda is not a violation of the Constitution."
Over time, interrogators began to devise techniques to honor the "letter" but not the "spirit" of Miranda. In the case of "Missouri v. Seibert", 542 U.S. 600 (2004), the Supreme Court halted one of the more controversial practices. Missouri police had been deliberately withholding Miranda warnings and questioning suspects until they obtained confessions, then providing the warnings, getting waivers, and eliciting confessions again. Justice Souter wrote for the plurality: "Strategists dedicated to draining the substance out of "Miranda" cannot accomplish by training instructions what "Dickerson" held Congress could not do by statute."
"Berghuis v. Thompkins" (2010) was a ruling in which the Supreme Court held that a suspect's "ambiguous or equivocal" statement, or lack of statements, does not mean that police must end an interrogation. At least one scholar has argued that "Thompkins" effectively gutted "Miranda". In "The Right to Remain Silent", Charles Weisselberg wrote that "the majority in "Thompkins" rejected the fundamental underpinnings of "Miranda v. Arizona"'s prophylactic rule and established a new one that fails to protect the rights of suspects" and that
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />But in "Thompkins", neither Michigan nor the Solicitor General were able to cite any decision in which a court found that a suspect had given an implied waiver after lengthy questioning. Thompkins persevered for almost three hours before succumbing to his interrogators. In finding a waiver on these facts, "Thompkins" gives us an implied waiver doctrine on steroids.
In "Vega v. Tekoh" (2022), the Supreme Court ruled 6–3 that police officers could not be sued under a particular statutory cause of action for failing to administer the Miranda warning, ruling that not every "Miranda" violation is a deprivation of a constitutional right. In dissent, three justices held that the court had "repeatedly and emphatically" determined that the "Miranda" decision established a constitutional right, and would have allowed such lawsuits. According to pundits, the ruling "Vega v. Tekoh" "makes it easier for police to obtain coerced confessions – by continuing to ask questions even if someone doesn't want to speak" and "guts a major pathway for incentivizing police to provide a Miranda warning and ensuring their accountability."
Effect on law enforcement.
"Miranda"'s impact on law enforcement remains in dispute. Many legal scholars believe that police have adjusted their practices in response to "Miranda" and that its mandates have not hampered police investigations. Others argue that the "Miranda" rule has resulted in a lower rate of conviction, with a possible reduction in the rate of confessions of between four and sixteen percent. Some scholars argue that Miranda warnings have reduced the rate at which the police solve crimes, while others question their methodology and conclusions.
In popular culture.
The 2023 film Miranda's Victim directed by Michelle Danner explores the origins of the Miranda warning and the ultimate decision of the Supreme Court in favour of Miranda.
References.
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External links.
 is available from: Cornell CourtListener Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)

Ernesto Miranda
American criminal and subject of a United States Supreme Court case
Ernesto Arturo Miranda (March 9, 1941 – January 31, 1976) was an American laborer whose criminal conviction was set aside in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case "Miranda v. Arizona", which ruled that criminal suspects must be informed of their right against self-incrimination and their right to consult with an attorney before being questioned by police. This warning is known as a "Miranda" warning. Miranda had been convicted of kidnapping, rape, and armed robbery charges based on his confession under police interrogation.
After the Supreme Court decision invalidated Miranda's initial conviction, the state of Arizona tried him again. At the second trial, with his confession excluded from evidence, he was convicted. He was sentenced to 20–30 years in prison, but was paroled in 1972. After his release, he returned to his old neighborhood and made a modest living autographing police officers' "Miranda cards" that contained the text of the warning for reading to arrestees. Miranda was stabbed to death during an argument in a bar in Phoenix, Arizona on January 31, 1976. A Mexican man, Eseziquiel Moreno Perez, was charged with the murder of Miranda, but fled to Mexico and has never been located.
Early life.
Ernesto Arturo Miranda was born in Mesa, Arizona, on March 9, 1941. Miranda began getting in trouble when he was in grade school. Shortly after his mother died, his father remarried. Miranda and his father did not get along very well; he kept his distance from his brothers and stepmother as well. Miranda's first criminal conviction was during his eighth-grade year. The following year, he was convicted of burglary and sentenced to a year in reform school.
In 1956, about a month after his release from the Arizona State Industrial School for Boys (ASISB), he ran afoul of the law once more and was returned to ASISB. Upon his second release from reform school, he relocated to Los Angeles, California. Within months of his arrival in L.A., Miranda was arrested (but not convicted) on suspicion of armed robbery and for some sex offences. After two and a half years in custody, the 18-year-old Miranda was extradited back to Arizona.
He drifted through the southern U.S. for a few months, spending time in jail in Texas for living on the street without money or a place to live, and was arrested in Nashville, Tennessee, for driving a stolen car. Miranda was sentenced to one year and a day in the federal prison system because he had driven the stolen vehicle across state lines. He spent his sentence in Chillicothe, Ohio, and later in Lompoc, California.
For the next couple of years, Miranda kept out of jail, working at various jobs, until he became a laborer on the night loading dock for the Phoenix Produce Company. At that time he started living with Twila Hoffman, a 29-year-old mother of a boy and a girl by another man, from whom she could not afford to obtain a divorce.
Confession without rights; "Miranda v. Arizona".
On March 13, 1963, Miranda's truck was spotted and license plates recognized by the brother of an 18-year-old kidnapping and rape victim, Lois Ann Jameson (the victim had given the brother a description). With his description of the car and a partial license plate number, Phoenix Police Department officers Carroll Cooley and Wilfred Young confronted Miranda, who voluntarily accompanied them to the police station and participated in a police lineup. At the time, Miranda was a person of interest, but not formally in custody.
After the lineup, when Miranda asked how he did, the police implied that he was positively identified, at which point he was placed under arrest, and taken to an interrogation room. After two hours of interrogation, some of which regarded another offense for which Miranda was separately tried and convicted, Miranda hand-wrote a confession to the kidnapping and rape of Jameson. At the top of each sheet was the printed certification that "this statement has been made voluntarily and of my own free will, with no threats, coercion or promises of immunity and with full knowledge of my legal rights, understanding any statement I make can and will be used against me." After confessing to the officers, Miranda was taken to meet the victim for positive voice identification. Asked by officers in her presence whether this was the victim, he said: "That's the girl." The victim stated that the sound of Miranda's voice matched that of the culprit.
Despite the printed statement on top of the sheets that Miranda used to write his confession, "with full knowledge of my legal rights," he was not informed of his right to have an attorney present, nor of his right to remain silent when he was arrested or before his interrogation. 73-year-old Alvin Moore was assigned to represent him at his trial. The trial was conducted in mid-June 1963 before Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Yale McFate.
Moore objected to entering the confession by Miranda as evidence during the trial but was overruled. Mostly because of the confession, Miranda was convicted of rape and kidnapping and sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison on both charges. Moore appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court, but the conviction was upheld there.
Filing as a pauper, Miranda submitted his plea for a writ of "certiorari", or request for review of his case to the U.S. Supreme Court in June 1965. After Alvin Moore was unable to continue representing Miranda because of health reasons, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Robert J. Corcoran asked John J. Flynn, a criminal defense attorney, to serve "pro bono", along with his partner, John P. Frank, and associates Paul G. Ulrich and Robert A. Jensen of the law firm Lewis & Roca in Phoenix to represent Miranda. They wrote a 2,500-word petition for "certiorari" arguing that Miranda's Fifth Amendment rights had been violated, and they submitted it to the United States Supreme Court.
"Miranda v. Arizona".
In November 1965, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Miranda's case, "Miranda v. Arizona", along with three other similar cases to clear all confusion created by the decision in "Escobedo v. Illinois". That previous case had ruled that:
Under the circumstances of this case, where a police investigation is no longer a general inquiry into an unsolved crime but has begun to focus on a particular suspect in police custody who has been refused an opportunity to consult with his counsel and who has not been warned of his constitutional right to keep silent, the accused has been denied the assistance of counsel in violation of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, and no statement extracted by the police during the interrogation may be used against him at a trial. "Crooker v. California", 357 U.S. 433, and "Cicenia v. Lagay", 357 U.S. 504, distinguished, and, to the extent that they may be inconsistent with the instant case, they are not controlling. 479–492.
In January 1966, Flynn and Frank submitted their argument stating that Miranda's Sixth Amendment right to counsel had been violated by the Phoenix Police Department. Two weeks later the State of Arizona responded by asserting that Miranda's rights had not been violated. The first day of the case was on the last day of February 1966. Because of the three companion cases and other information, the case had a second day of oral arguments on March 1, 1966.
John Flynn for Miranda outlined the case and then stated that Miranda had not been advised of his right to remain silent when he had been arrested and questioned, adding the Fifth Amendment argument to his case. Flynn contended that an emotionally disturbed man like Miranda, who had a limited education, should not be expected to know his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.
Gary Nelson represented the State of Arizona arguing that this was not a Fifth Amendment issue but just an attempt to expand the Sixth Amendment "Escobedo" decision. He urged the justices to clarify their position, but not to push the limits of "Escobedo" too far. He then told the court that forcing police to advise suspects of their rights would seriously obstruct public safety.
The second day concerned arguments from related cases. Thurgood Marshall, the former NAACP attorney, was the last to argue. In his capacity as the Solicitor General, he presented the Johnson administration's view of the case: that the government did not have the resources to appoint a lawyer for every indigent person who was accused of a crime.
Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote the opinion in "Miranda v. Arizona". The decision was in favor of Miranda. It stated that:
The person in custody must, prior to interrogation, be clearly informed that he has the right to remain silent, and that anything he says will be used against him in court; he must be clearly informed that he has the right to consult with a lawyer and to have the lawyer with him during interrogation, and that, if he is indigent, a lawyer will be appointed to represent him.
The opinion was released on June 13, 1966. Because of the decision, police departments throughout the U.S. started to issue "Miranda" warning cards for their officers to recite. The Supreme Court did not mandate a specific wording and, although word choice is similar, the exact language used varies between jurisdictions. A generic admonition might look like this:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney and to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you.
Life after "Miranda v. Arizona".
The Supreme Court invalidated Miranda's conviction, which was tainted by the use of the confession that had been obtained through improper interrogation. The state of Arizona retried him. At the second trial, his confession was not introduced into evidence, but he was convicted again, on March 1, 1967, based on testimony given by his estranged common-law wife. He was sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison.
Miranda was paroled in 1972. After his release, he started selling autographed "Miranda" warning cards for $1.50. Over the next few years, Miranda was arrested numerous times for minor driving offenses and eventually lost his license. He was arrested for the possession of a gun but the charges were dropped. However, because this violated his parole, he was sent back to Arizona State Prison for another year before being released.
Death.
On January 31, 1976, a fight erupted at the Amapola Bar at 233 South 2nd Street in downtown Phoenix in which Miranda was stabbed. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center. He was 34. Several Miranda cards were found on his person. Miranda was buried in the City of Mesa Cemetery in Mesa, Arizona. The person suspected of handing the knife to the man who murdered Miranda invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to talk to police. He was released and was not charged in Miranda's murder. The man suspected of murdering Miranda, then-23-year-old Eseziquiel Moreno Perez, was formally charged with murder on February 4, 1976. However, he has never been apprehended as he fled to Mexico following the murder and has never been found.
References.
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Dickerson v. United States
2000 United States Supreme Court case
Dickerson v. United States, 530 U.S. 428 (2000), upheld the requirement that the Miranda warning be read to criminal suspects and struck down a federal statute that purported to overrule "Miranda v. Arizona" (1966).
"Dickerson" is regarded as a significant example of a rare departure by the Court from the principle of party presentation. The Court noted that neither party in the case advocated on behalf of the constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 3501, the specific statute at issue in the case. Accordingly, it invited Paul Cassell, a former law clerk to Antonin Scalia and Warren E. Burger, to argue that perspective. Cassell was then a professor at the University of Utah law school; he was later appointed to, and subsequently resigned from, a federal district court judgeship in that state.
Background.
In "Miranda v. Arizona", the Supreme Court held that statements of criminal suspects made while they are in custody and subject to interrogation by police may not be admitted in court unless the suspect first had certain warnings read to them beforehand. By now, these warnings are familiar to most Americans: that the suspect has the right to remain silent during the interrogation, that anything they say to the police may be used against them in a court of law, that they have the right to legal counsel, and that if they cannot afford legal counsel a lawyer will be provided for them.
In 1968, two years after the "Miranda" decision, Congress passed a law that purported to overrule it as part of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. This statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3501, directed federal trial judges to admit statements of criminal defendants if they were made voluntarily, without regard to whether they had received the "Miranda" warnings. Under § 3501, voluntariness depended on such things as (1) the time between arrest and arraignment, (2) whether the defendant knew the crime for which they had been arrested, (3) whether they had been told that they did not have to talk to the police and that any statement could be used against them, (4) whether the defendant knew prior to questioning that they had the right to the assistance of counsel, and (5) whether they actually had the assistance of counsel during questioning. However, the "presence or absence of any of" these factors "need not be conclusive on the issue of voluntariness of the confession." Because § 3501 was an act of Congress, it applied only to federal criminal proceedings and criminal proceedings in the District of Columbia.
Charles Dickerson had been arrested for bank robbery and for using a firearm during a crime of violence, both federal crimes. He moved to suppress statements he made to the FBI because he had not received the "Miranda" warnings before he spoke to the FBI. The district court suppressed the statements, and so the government appealed. The Fourth Circuit reversed the district court, reasoning that § 3501 had supplanted the requirement that the police give the "Miranda" warnings because "Miranda" was not a constitutional requirement and therefore Congress could overrule that decision by legislation. The Supreme Court then agreed to hear the case.
Opinion of the Court.
Chief Justice Rehnquist wrote the majority opinion, and began by briefly describing the historical backdrop against which the "Miranda" ruling had emerged. A suspect's confession had always been inadmissible if it had been the result of coercion or otherwise given involuntarily. This was true in England, from where American law inherited that rule.
However, as time went on, the Supreme Court recognized that the Fifth Amendment was an independent source of protection for statements made by criminal defendants in the course of police interrogation. "In "Miranda", we noted that the advent of modern custodial police interrogation brought with it an increased concern about confessions obtained by coercion." Custodial police interrogation by its very nature "isolates and pressures the individual" so that he might eventually be worn down and confess to crimes he did not commit in order to end the ordeal. In "Miranda", the Court had adopted the now-famous four warnings to protect against this particular evil.
Congress, in response, enacted § 3501. That statute clearly was designed to overrule "Miranda" because it expressly focused solely on voluntariness of the confession as a touchstone for admissibility. Did Congress have the authority to pass such a law? On the one hand, the Court's power to craft nonconstitutional supervisory rules over the federal courts exists only in the absence of a specific statute passed by Congress. However, if on the other hand the "Miranda" rule was constitutional, Congress could not overrule it, because the Court alone is the final arbiter of what the Constitution requires. As evidence of the fact that the "Miranda" rule was constitutional in nature, the Court pointed out that many of its subsequent decisions applying and limiting the requirement arose in decisions from state courts, over which the Court lacked the power to impose supervisory nonconstitutional rules. Furthermore, although the Court had previously invited legislative involvement in the effort to devise prophylactic measures for protecting criminal defendants against overbearing tactics of the police, it had consistently held that these measures must not take away from the protections "Miranda" had afforded.
Finally, 34 years after the original decision, the Court was loath to overrule "Miranda". Typically, the Court overrules constitutional decisions only when their doctrinal underpinnings have eroded. The Court felt that this was not the case in "Miranda". "If anything, our subsequent cases have reduced the impact of the "Miranda" rule on legitimate law enforcement while reaffirming the decision's core ruling that unwarned statements may not be used as evidence in the prosecution's case in chief." The "Miranda" rule did not displace the voluntariness inquiry.
Dissent.
Justice Scalia, joined by Justice Thomas, disagreed with the majority's decision not to overrule "Miranda". He disputed the notion that "Miranda" was a constitutional rule, pointing to several cases in which the Court had declined to exclude evidence despite the absence of warnings.
Justice Scalia described the majority's decision as an unprincipled compromise between justices who believed "Miranda" was a constitutional requirement and those who disagreed. He noted that the majority did not state outright that the Miranda warning is a constitutional requirement, but merely that it is "constitutionally based." Justice Scalia further criticized the majority for implying that Congress has no power to override judicially imposed safeguards of constitutional rights.
References.
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External links.
 is available from: Cornell CourtListener Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)

Berghuis v. Thompkins
2010 United States Supreme Court case
Berghuis v. Thompkins, 560 U.S. 370 (2010), is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court held that, unless and until a criminal suspect explicitly states that they are relying on their right to remain silent, their voluntary statements may be used in court and police may continue to question them. The mere act of remaining silent is not sufficient to imply the suspect has invoked their rights even when the suspect actually intended their silence to have that effect. Furthermore, a voluntary reply even after lengthy silence can be construed as waiving the right to remain silent.
The Court was split, 5–4. The dissent, authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, argued that "Miranda v. Arizona" and other previous cases had required the waiver of a constitutional right to be much clearer, especially because of the "compelling influence" that an interrogation causes after police have spent several hours pressuring a suspect.
Many considered "Berghuis" the latest in a line of cases eroding "Miranda", perhaps "turning the clocks back" on safeguards for people being investigated by the police. At least one scholar argued that "Berghuis" effectively gutted "Miranda". The opinion