Mann developed the project as a gritty police procedural , but with a subtext focusing on institutionalized prejudice and the civil rights of suspects and witnesses . The result was a 1973 made-for-TV movie , '' The Marcus-Nelson Murders '' . The opening and closing titles of the film emphasized the point that it was a fictional account of the events that led to the creation of Miranda rights by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1966 . Selwyn Raab 's book '' Justice in the Back Room '' provided Mann with some of his inspiration for the story of '' The Marcus-Nelson Murders '' , and the series subsequently included a credits reference to having been " suggested by a book by Selwyn Raab "
institutionalized prejudice
Institutional racism
Kojak