It is important to know what your rights are if you are ever arrested, how to respond to an arrest, and what constitutes a wrongful arrest. You also need to know that you could be "under arrest" even if you are never cuffed and sitting in the back of a squad car. Anytime that you reasonably perceive that you are not able to walk away from the police when you want to, you could be under arrest. But it is also vital to realize that not every detention is an arrest either.

For example: Let's say that a woman goes to the police station and of her own free will responds to a line of questioning. One question makes her go silent and she gets up to leave. The police officer tells her she can't leave until the questions are done, and he gestures for her to return to her chair. This would count as an arrest.

Now if you're stopped to be issued a traffic ticket, or even to be cited for a certain type of misdemeanor, you are not under arrest. If you sign a citation, this means you are saying you will show up in court instead of getting arrested.

If someone is both arrested and questioned, they must be told their Miranda rights, which mean that an officer must tell the suspect of their constitutional rights to remain silent and to retain an attorney. Outside of an arrest, a person does not have to be read these rights. And even if someone is arrested, but not questioned, they do not need to hear these rights either.

What about search and seizure rights? Once someone is under arrest, an officer can conduct a search of the suspect and look for evidence that is at risk of being lost or destroyed. An officer even has this lawful authority to run a search when they are simply giving a citation and not making an arrest. However, if it turns out that the officer did not have probable cause to arrest that person in the first place, then any evidence they found in their search could get thrown out of a trial.

Does an officer usually need a warrant to arrest you? If someone is being arrested at their residence, then usually yes, an arrest warrant is necessary. To get this warrant, an officer has bring up probable cause for the arrest. Officers would usually have to "knock and announce" before such an arrest as well. This excludes emergencies, of course, when evidence or people are at risk.

What is a wrongful arrest?

This is more than a mistaken arrest. If an officer got an arrest warrant based on another person's sworn statement that turned out to be untrue, the officer could not be faulted for acting on what they thought was reliable information (the person who gave the statement would be in trouble, however). Even if you know that an arrest is a mistake, you do NOT have the right to resist arrest. It is always a crime to physically resist an arrest, even if an arrest is based on an erroneous warrant.

A wrongful arrest is one that is illegal because the officer overstepped his or her bounds. For example, if an officer arrests someone simply for hurling an insult at them, an insult is not a crime. If there is no real reason for the arrest, then it is unlawful. If an arrest is flat out illegal, then you supposedly have the right to resist the arrest. This is almost never advisable, however, as it could lead to injury and jail. No matter how much in the right you are, you will probably have to leave the question of an arrest's lawfulness to a court.

If you or someone you know is ever arrested, then you should take advantage of your right to an attorney. Find out how you can beat your charges, get out of jail, and more, when you contact a skilled criminal defense attorney from our directory today!