● Police are allowed to interrogate a child without a parent or guardian present.
● Police can lie to a child in order to coerce them to waive their Miranda rights.
● Police are not required to allow a child to meet and talk with their parent or guardian before the police read the child their Miranda rights.
● Police are not required to explain to the child – or the child’s parent or guardian – what the police want to question them about.
● Police do not have to tell the child, parent or guardian that the child can stop answering questions any time they choose.
Approximately 90 percent of children waive their Miranda rights.1
Thirty years of research by psychologists, sociologists, and neurologists make it clear that even under controlled circumstances, children lack the capacity to fully appreciate the meaning and significance of the right to remain silent, and to
appreciate the almost certain repercussions of waiving that right.2 Young people who come into contact with law enforcement also have higher rates of mental illness and cognitive deficits.3 Add to that the stress and tension inherent in a custodial interrogation, and the prospect of an intelligent and voluntary waiver of Miranda rights becomes a myth. It should be no surprise that children falsely confess three times more than adults.4
While false confessions are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Miranda waivers, most children will say whatever they think will most immediately relieve them from the stress and pressure they are exposed to when being interrogated.5 The Exonerated 5 were not an isolated case, but rather an example of what happens all too often.
On top of this, we know that the children most likely to come into contact with law enforcement and the juvenile legal system are Black and Latinx children from over-surveilled schools and low socioeconomic communities.6 The result is a disproportionate number of Black and Latinx children are interrogated by police without the assistance of an attorney, while their more affluent peers are protected by hired attorneys. For Black and Latinx children from low income communities, the protections of Miranda are illusory.
S.878-A (Bailey) / A.2620-A (Hevesi) would provide the protection our children need. When police determine that interrogation of a child is necessary, this bill would require that the child first consult with counsel before any questioning can take place. Consultation with a lawyer would be a non-waivable requirement that would exclude any statement taken in violation of the rule from being entered into evidence against the child.