The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees that no individual accused of a crime can be coerced or forced to testify or incriminate himself. This means that an individual does not have to talk about any potential charges against him to authorities. Frequently, when people are arrested, they are concerned because they were not read "their rights." The rights of which they are speaking are the right to remain silent and the right to be told that anything they say can and will be used against them in a criminal prosecution. An individual also has a right to a lawyer and if the individual cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to represent him at no charge. These are the basic Miranda rights.

Many times people are arrested and they are not given or read their Miranda rights. Basically, Miranda rights are designed to protect an individual from incriminating himself. This means a person cannot be forced to confess. However, many times the police are not concerned with what a person will say and therefore they do not read the person his Miranda rights. It is only when a person is being interrogated while in police custody that the rights are important and applied. If a person volunteers information without being asked, then the rights do not apply.

If a person is interrogated while in custody and asked questions about the offense, then that person's statements cannot be used against him if he has not been read his rights first.