ADOLESCENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR LEGAL RIGHTS
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Authors: Clare-Ann Fortune, Deirdre Brown, Nessa Lynch
Keywords: adolescent development, psychosocial development, psychosocial development, legal rights
Abstract: Rights (e.g., Miranda warnings, Rights waivers) inform people about their legal rights when they are questioned, arrested or detained by police. Internationally, research suggests most young people have incomplete understanding of their rights. It is not clear why this might be the case. This study looked at two possible hypotheses; 1) that the language of the rights is too complex and 2) that adolescents have insufficient background knowledge to be able to understand the importance of the rights and make use of them. In order to explore why adolescents have incomplete understanding of their legal rights students from schools in New Zealand were randomly assigned to one of three conditions; hearing either an official or revised version of the children and young person’s rights, or being given additional before being asked about their understanding of the official rights. Results are presented from a New Zealand study exploring whether adolescents’ level of understanding of their rights could be improved and if level of understanding improved with age. Consideration is also given to the implications of the results for best practice.