Young People's Comprehension of the Rights Caution in New Zealand

Abstract

<p>In New Zealand we have a child/youth, and an adult version of the Rights Caution, which are the rights read to an individual when they are arrested, detained, or questioned by police. The child/youth version was created with the developmental needs of young people in mind, however, it remains unclear whether it is assisting young people to better understand their rights. No research has been completed in New Zealand looking at young people’s comprehension of the Rights Caution, however, international research has shown that 1) the majority of individuals under 15 years old have limited rights comprehension, and 2) adapted versions of rights do not increase young people’s understanding. In consideration of these findings, the current research aimed to answer three key questions: 1) Do young people in New Zealand understand the Rights Caution, 2) what level of understanding do they have, and does this change with age, and 3) is the child/youth version of the Rights Caution helping to increase young people’s level of understanding of their rights, compared to the adult version? Participants were recruited from two Wellington region schools (N=101). They were interviewed using The New Zealand Rights Caution Competency Questionnaire, which was designed for this study, to assess young people’s understanding of the New Zealand Rights Caution. Participants were divided into either a 10-to-13-year-old age group (n=58), or a 14-to-16-year-old age group (n=43), and were randomly selected to be interviewed using either the child/youth, or adult version of the Rights Caution. It was found that participants had limited understanding of the Rights Caution, exhibiting more basic understanding, compare to in depth knowledge around the application of the rights. Level of understanding was not affected by participant’s age; the older participants knew as little as the younger ones did. Furthermore, it was found that the child/youth version of the Rights Caution did not assist participants in their understanding, and actually contained language that participants found more difficult to understand. These findings suggest that the New Zealand Rights Caution may not be effective in providing young people with the legal protection that it is intended to, and the processes around its use with New Zealand youth may need to be revised.</p>

The Use of Visual Aids to Improve Young People’s Understanding of their Legal Rights in New Zealand

“…More information regarding this assessment tool will be discussed in the methods section of this thesis. Gaston (2017) found participants had poor levels of understanding across all domains, with an average total understanding of 61%. This meant that on average, young people understood around 61% of their legal rights.…”

“…The development of the Youth Caution and the subsequent processes in place to deliver the Youth Caution, are intended to provide protection for young people. However, the extent of the protection provided by the Youth Caution is unclear, as it seems likely many New Zealand youth have incomplete understanding of their rights (Gaston 2017;Ryan 2020;Talbot, 2020). This issue will be discussed later in further detail.…”

“…In New Zealand to date, there are a small number of studies that have assessed legal rights understanding in young people. Gaston (2017) recruited a community sample of young people and compared understanding between young people that received the adult version of the Rights Caution and those that received the Youth Caution. The New Zealand Rights Caution Competency Questionnaire (NZRC-CQ; Fortune et al, n.d.) was used to assess understanding.…”

“…From these findings, it appears that modifications made to the Youth Caution, are not necessarily providing additional assistance with understanding. Gaston (2017) concluded that the way the rights are currently being delivered, could be more effective. With Gaston's (2017) findings in mind, Talbot (2020) conducted a study comparing a revised version of the Youth Caution with the standard Youth Caution.…”

“…For example, a young person could waive their rights and subsequently not attain legal advice from a lawyer. Incomplete legal rights understanding is common for young people across the New Zealand context (Gaston, 2017) and international contexts also (Grisso, 1980). This thesis will focus on developing and trialling an intervention that aims to improve young people's understanding of their legal rights.…”