Use of stun guns could impact suspect rights

It’s a phrase most people have heard time and again on television crime shows.

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law … .”

The Miranda warning is read to suspects prior to police questioning. But new research from Arizona State University suggests people who have received an electronic shock from a stun gun may not immediately comprehend those rights when read to them.

ASU criminology and criminal justice professor Michael White told WNPR Where We Live host John Dankosky that the study found decreased cognitive functioning in participants who had been tased.

White says short term memory and auditory learning of study participants were impacted for up to an hour. He reasons if those kind of declines can be measured in young adult participants who were in good health, then suspects who are anything but healthy could be more greatly impaired after being tased.

“If we are seeing this decline in a population that is young, that is educated, that is healthy — both physically and mentally, I argue that any declines that occur in a population that is physically unhealthy, that is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, that has a history of mental illness or is mentally ill in a crisis — the effects are going to be exacerbated in that kind of population.”

White told WNPR that the study raises questions about “what should happen after a Taser is used in regards to the questioning of suspects.”

White says that police chiefs he has talked to about the study have been receptive to the findings. He says most in law enforcement don’t believe waiting an hour to interrogate a suspect who has been tased would hinder investigations.

Article: http://wnpr.org/post/tasers-viable-alternative-lethal-force

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