A critical discussion of youth Miranda waivers, racial inequity, and proposed policy reforms.

Abstract

Courts often assume that youth and adult suspects are equally capable of making decisions about whether to talk to police officers—decisions that carry serious long-term consequences. In Miranda v. Arizona, the Supreme Court ruled that prior to custodial interrogation, police officers must remind suspects of their rights to silence and legal counsel, and a suspect must waive their rights “voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently” for police to continue questioning. This legal standard was extended to youth without affording them additional protections, despite decades of research on adolescent cognitive and socioemotional development demonstrating that youth have inherent difficulties understanding and appreciating their Miranda rights. Navigating interrogation situations is likely even more challenging for youth of color, who not only face disadvantages due to their developmental immaturity, but also systemic racism within the legal system. As biased police practices put youth of color at a higher risk of police contact, it is especially important to consider how adolescent development and racial bias interact to impact youths’ ability to make valid Miranda waivers. Researchers and legal advocates have made multiple youth interrogation reform recommendations, but many of these recommendations fall short by failing to take into full account the impact of adolescent development and racial bias on youths’ ability to navigate interrogation. This paper analyzes proposals for reform through a developmental and racial equity lens and makes recommendations about future research needed to determine the most effective way to protect youth during interrogation.

Parent advice to children during interrogations: Do crime severity and perceptions of consequences matter?

“…This number significantly increased when the crime severity was moderate (85.1% advised rights assertion, odds ratio, OR = 1.58) and when it was high (88% advised rights assertion, OR = 2.12). Police legitimacy and interrogation knowledge were significant predictors of parents’ predicted Miranda advice; analyses with these variables are reported elsewhere (Baker et al, in press).…”

“…For example, because the majority of participants in our sample were White, we were limited in our ability to explore the important influence of racial identity on parents’ perceptions of potential consequences. In a separate article, we previously reported the analyses that were possibly related to race in this sample (Baker et al, in press), which showed that, for Black and White parents, the advice parents would give their children regarding their Miranda rights differed based on parents’ racial identities and were mediated by their views of police legitimacy. It is well-established that communities of color face disadvantages at all steps of the criminal justice process (Haney-Caron & Fountain, 2021; Kutateladze et al, 2014) and, as a result, parents of color are more likely to prepare their children to have negative interactions with the police (April et al, 2022; Brunson & Weitzer, 2011).…”

“…The second was a measure of perceptions of police legitimacy which ranged from 1 to 4, with higher scores indicating greater perceptions of police legitimacy. See Baker et al (in press) for further explanation of these measures and results related to how the aforementioned variables interact with race to predict parent advice. Upon completion, parents were provided with educational information about their child’s rights during interrogation and were then thanked and compensated $1.65 for their participation.…”

Interviewing young offenders about child-on-child sexual abuse

“…Most individuals have only a limited understanding of their rights to remain silent and avoid self-incrimination (for a review see Rendall & MacMahon, 2021). Because of their youth, immaturity, and lack of experience with the law, adolescents seem to struggle more than adults to understand and appreciate the meaning of rights (e.g., Baker et al, 2023) and younger adolescents have a poorer understanding than older adolescents (Freedman et al, 2014). Delinquent boys who are characterized by lower psychosocial maturity showed even poorer comprehension of their rights (Colwell et al, 2005), although errors are common regardless of maturity levels (Hughes et al, 2013, Rogers et al, 2014.…”

The impact of race on predictors of parents’ advice to children regarding Miranda waivers.

“…The vulnerabilities associated with adolescence are compounded when the youth belongs to a minoritized racial group, which may result in an increased risk of Miranda waiver for youth of color (Baker et al, 2023). Stereotype threat, a phenomenon in which an individual modifies their behavior due to concerns about confirming negative stereotypes about the group to which they belong (Steele & Aronson, 1995), can increase a youth’s cognitive load, in turn, impairing comprehension of legal concepts such as the Miranda warnings (Davis et al, 2013).…”