Faith-Based Miranda?: Why the New Missouri v. Siebert “Bad Faith” Test Is a Terrible Idea

This Article suggests an alternative to Siebert’s “bad faith” test. If the police bad faith test is abandoned, Seibert’s ban on unwarned pre-interrogation questioning could help transform Miranda into a more effective deterrent. Seibert implicitly supports the adoption of additional enforcement mechanisms, such as rules requiring the videotaping of custodial interrogations, because the Court has begun to acknowledge that Miranda alone does not work. More specifically, Seibert’s explicit condemnation of pre-warnings questioning would make videotaping requirements a more potent deterrent by barring police from engaging in preliminary (off-camera) questioning. With more than fifteen states currently contemplating new videotaping requirements, the time is ripe for Seibert to play this important role.