More than 200 years after it was written, the U.S. Constitution is just as radical, as revolutionary, as it was in the 1700s.

We have a system that can handle whatever crimes are committed in the United States, whether the suspects are U.S. citizens or not. It’s a system with flaws, but it’s a system that works.

You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense.

How many times were those words said during the 20 years that Law & Order ran on NBC? How many times did the actors say them when they were filming on the streets of Riverdale alone?

Our neighborhood was a favorite spot for producers of the show, standing in for suburbs beyond the city limits. The trucks and equipment that went along with filming the show were so common, The Press no longer sent out a photographer every time people called in to say they’d seen the crew.

Now NBC has canceled the series. Its long run is over. It just wasn’t that popular anymore.

The same seems to be true of the Miranda warning that series favorites like actor Jerry Orbach used to recite, often in a bored monotone. The warning, of course, has had an even longer run.

It was in 1966 that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a man named Ernesto Miranda hadn’t received a fair trial when he was convicted of kidnapping and raping an 18-year-old mentally retarded girl. The main evidence used against him was his confession, which police had obtained without making sure Mr. Miranda understood his rights to representation and against self-incrimination.

The crime was heinous, the victim innocent, and people were outraged by the decision of the court that let such a man go free.

But that’s just it. More than 200 years after it was written, the U.S. Constitution is just that radical, that revolutionary. It’s a terrible restraint on human emotion and nature. In order to give protection to the best, it offers equal protection to the worst.