It's finally happened!
After dozens of comments on youtube and twice as many emails, The Infographics Show has
finally contacted you and asked you to be their new Challenge guy.
Their current challenge guy's retired, gone on to enjoy his sunset years in the youtube
hall of fame, and now you're it, you're the man, the myth, the legend.
You are the Infographic's new lab rat and least important writer.
The nature of Infographics challenges are top secret, though let's just say this particular
one involved some amount of public nudity.
Sadly for you, the fuzz didn't take kindly to you running around in your birthday suit,
and faster than you can say “Miranda rights”, they've put the click-clacks on you and are
hauling you off to the joint.
But what exactly happens when you get arrested?
The most important thing with a police encounter is to determine if you are actually being
arrested or not.
If you've had any experiences with the police, you've likely noticed that they're super polite
most of the time, asking you nicely, “Would you mind standing over here please?”, or
“Mind if I take a look in your vehicle?”.
Well, turns out that the cops aren't just giving you the professional courtesy they
should be giving you, because what they're actually doing is playing mind games with
you.
See, without probable cause, a police officer can't legally search your vehicle, home, or
person, and if a police officer ever restricts your freedom of mobility, they must notify
you that you've been placed under arrest.
Hence the polite questions.
Typically police officers will use these seemingly polite questions to get you to cooperate and
give them permission to find evidence to use against you, or to detain you, without having
a legal basis to do so.
For example, if an officer asks you to “please stand over here”, they actually have no
legal power to stop you from completely ignoring that order unless they inform you that you're
being placed under arrest or being detained.
In order to detain or arrest you, a police officer must have probable cause of criminal
misbehavior, though just to control a situation or an individual, they may instead ask you
politely to do as they say while having no legal right to actually restrict your freedom.
Now ignoring such a request could itself be grounds for a legal detainment, like if for
instance you not staying put is placing others in danger.
But if you ever get put in cuffs and are not informed that you're being detained or arrested,
the police officer just violated your civil liberties and could be open to one hell of
a lawsuit.
But you've been caught red-handed, there's no doubt you're guilty, and you're doing the
smart thing and not adding further charges by resisting arrest.
What happens now?
First, unless the situation is extremely dangerous, a police officer must read you your Miranda
rights the moment you're arrested or shortly thereafter.
Miranda rights come from a landmark Supreme Court ruling that determined criminals still
have certain rights they must be aware of during an arrest.
Miranda rights are so important, that most police officers read them directly from a
cheat sheet rather than risk memorizing them and forgetting a key right- that could be
grounds for a very expensive lawsuit.
Your first right is the right to remain silent, you don't have to answer any questions.
You'll be informed that anything you say during the arrest process can be later used against
you in court, so probably best to keep your mouth shut.
Next, you'll be informed of your right to speak to an attorney before speaking to a
police investigator, and to have one present during any questioning done by police.
This right is specially important given the string of abuses by police in the past during
suspect interrogations where they used the naivety or fear of a suspect to get criminal
confessions even if they were innocent or not completely guilty of what they were accused
of.
You'll be reminded that if you can't afford an attorney, you'll have one appointed to
you by the state.
Lastly, you'll be informed that if you cooperate and answer questions right now without an
attorney present, you have the right to stop answering questions until you have a chance
to speak with an attorney.
So, is it worth it to talk to the cops without an attorney?
Well, typically no.
But, your cooperation could lead to the prosecution recommending some amount of leniency when
it comes time for sentencing.
Next, once you've been placed in cuffs you'll typically be frisked.
This takes the form of a thorough pat-down of your outer layer of clothing, meant to
check for weapons that can be easily accessed.
Now that you've been officially arrested though, police can search your person for contraband
or criminal items, meaning they can empty your pockets and anything found will only
add to your problems.
Luckily for you, you've been arrested in your birthday suit, so the only pocket to search
is your prison pocket.
Any personal property you're currently carrying or have on your person at the time of arrest
will be logged into an inventory, which will include a detailed count of the currency you
were currently carrying.
You'll be asked to sign this inventory although you should only do so if the inventory accurately
reflects what you had on you when you were arrested.
These items or currency will typically be made available to a family member or kept
in storage for you until your government-funded vacation to state prison is officially over.
Next, you'll take a ride in the back of a police car to the nearest booking facility,
where you'll be officially booked and logged into the US criminal database.
You'll be asked to provide basic information on yourself such as address, social security
number, birthdate, etc., and you'll be photographed and fingerprinted.
At this point, you don't have the right to refuse being photographed or fingerprinted,
and if you refuse to cooperate and give a legal name you could just be adding more trouble
for yourself.
If you refuse to identify yourself, you could end up adding days or weeks to your pre-trial
jail stay until you can be identified, and if you've seen our past episodes on worst
prisons you'll know that jails are almost always worse than actual prisons.
Now that you've been booked, you'll be sent to temporary housing at a jail facility while
the prosecutor's office determines what charges they'll be filing against you.
Thanks to your constitutional right to a speedy trial, the prosecution has up to 72 hours
to file charges, something you'll no doubt be grateful for considering that in many countries
around the world there's no limit to how long you can be held without being charged.
Next, you'll have your day in court- or at least your first day in court.
You'll proceed to your arraignment where you'll face the charges against you, and the judge
will ask if you plead guilty or not guilty.
You can also select a third option- no contest- in which you indicate that you don't contest
the facts of the case, and typically meant to avoid an actual trial.
This can be beneficial for people facing minor criminal charges, as it may limit their exposure
to more serious charges in a full-blown trial.
Unless you plead no contest, you'll then be moving on to trial, during which you'll get
to argue your case via your lawyer or public defender, while the prosecution does its best
to argue against you.
The bail system though will allow you to skip having to stay in jail during your trial process,
if your criminal infractions are not severe and the judge has determined you aren't a
flight risk.
And that's it, luckily for you public nudity is a relatively minor charge and you can-
and should- just plead no contest and take the community service.
If you're a fan of the channel, then you're already aware that jails are so terrifying
a place to be, that you want to avoid them as best you can.
Now that you're a free bird though, time to stop free-birding' and get back on that challenge
grind, because internet fame doesn't come easy.
Just ask our last challenge guy.
Still not convinced you should avoid jail at all costs?
Check out our video Crazy life inside Miami mega jail to see why you definitely should.
Or perhaps you'd rather watch this other video instead.
Either way, click one now while you're still a free man!