Limited Series-Know Your Rights: Unknown Names: Part One

Summary — Unknown Names: Part One

We know the rulings. We know the rights. But how much do we actually know about the people behind them?

For the first half of our Know Your Rights series finale, we're going back to where three landmark Supreme Court cases actually began—not with legal briefs or judges, but with ordinary moments that grew into something much bigger.

A late-night walk home in Phoenix leads investigators to Ernesto Miranda. A veteran detective watches John Terry from a Cleveland sidewalk and has to decide whether suspicion is enough to step in. And in New Jersey, a fourteen-year-old girl's decision to deny smoking a cigarette leads to a search of her purse—and eventually changes what privacy looks like for students across the country.

These weren't people setting out to change constitutional law.

But their choices, their encounters, and the cases that followed still affect what happens in interrogation rooms, on sidewalks, and inside public schools today.

This is Unknown Names: Part One—the beginning of the end of Know Your Rights.

Listener Discretion

This episode includes discussion of abduction, sexual assault, violence, criminal activity, and other potentially disturbing subject matter. Listener discretion is advised.

References & Further Reading

Want to dig deeper into the cases discussed in this episode? The full reference list and research sources for Unknown Names: Part One are available on the Truth in the Shadows blog, so you can review the sources for yourself.

Visit truthintheshadowscmp.com and head to the References section for this episode.