When children and teenagers are accused of a crime, things may be a little different after a recent Supreme Court ruling, which said that courts must consider the child’s age during police interrogations. In the June decision, the court decided that juveniles should enjoy expanded Miranda protection.
Miranda rights warn a suspect that he or she has the right to remain silent when the suspect is taken into custody. Yet, according to the Supreme Court, this does not make sense when applied to children.
Children who are questioned by police officers before being taken into custody are going to feel pressured to answer, so they need to be aware of their rights any time they are questioned, even if they are not technically in custody. According to the court ruling, children are simply not mature enough to know that it is legally acceptable not to answer a police officer’s questions./p>
The Supreme Court case in question involved a seventh-grade special education student who was interviewed by police officers at his school about his participation in a series of break ins, before being taken into custody. The child felt pressured to confess and did so, but was never read his Miranda rights because he was not in custody. The lower courts argued the Miranda rights were not necessary in his case.
The Supreme Court reversed the lower court ruling because the justices felt the child would be more likely to be pressed into making a confession when in the presence of adult authority figures, whether or not the interview happened in custody. The decision was 5-4 with the majority calling it “common sense” while the dissenting justices deemed it an “extreme makeover” of Miranda.
According to the ruling, the Miranda rule is designed to help individuals understand their rights, and it should take the characteristic of age into account. In the case in question, the Court felt the police should have extended the test for custody on account of the child’s age.
In other words, he should have been given his Miranda rights because he was in the presence of police officers and being questioned, even though he was not yet in custody. This ruling will make it more difficult for officers to press children into confessions before taking them into custody.
