'I Want to Talk to My Mom': The Role of Parents in Police Interrogations of Juveniles

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors explore the role of parents in police interrogations of juveniles. The chapter is coauthored by an academic and two clinicians and was inspired by the case of a young client of the Barton Juvenile Defender Clinic. While being interrogated by police, he asked to speak to his mother, who was then summoned to the station house. Without their knowledge, their station house conversation was video recorded and was introduced in evidence at trial. The chapter examines issues raised by the practice of using kids’ communications with parents as a means to gather evidence and/or to engage in “double teaming” of police and parents to pressure the juvenile into a plea or a confession. The authors discuss the policy issues posed by this practice, in light of the constitutional dimensions of parent/child relationships and the rehabilitative and preventive role of parental involvement in advising and counseling their children. The authors conclude by identifying three potential approaches to parental involvement in juvenile interrogrations: 1) case by case analysis using a totality of the circumstances, 2) complete exclusion of parents from interrogations, and 3) enhanced protections of parental involvement. They propose a set of protections including immediate notification of parents when juveniles are about to be interrogated, Miranda warnings to both parents and children, and confidentiality of parent-child communications.