Kentucky Youth Advocates officials recently announced that one of their priorities in 2026 will be requiring children to consult with an attorney before waiving their Miranda Rights. Officials said an exception can be made when there is imminent threat to a person or property.
Cortney Downs with Kentucky Youth Advocates said children’s brains are less developed than adults, and they are less likely to understand their legal rights or the legal process.
“Young people’s ability to control their impulses, to regulate their emotions, and to make decisions are a critical part of brain development that’s happening in their teens and in their 20s. So, kids of this age are usually more susceptible to those immediate rewards, to peer influence and approval. They also may struggle to anticipate the consequences of their actions,” said Downs.
Downs said because children are less likely to understand the legal process or the consequences of their actions, they are more susceptible to false confessions. She said in 2022, there were more than 260 exonerations of crimes that involved people under 18. 34 percent of those exonerations included false confessions. Downs said 78 percent of the crimes including children under 14 involved false confessions.
She said there is a legal precedent for the move the group is studying in states like Maryland and Indiana.
“In more than 30 states, they now require all interrogations, whether it’s juveniles or adults, to be recorded. There are some states that require an attorney or a parent to be present during the interrogation, and then there are other states that only require the child to be notified that they are allowed to have their parent or an attorney in the room with them,” said Downs.
Downs said some states are defining places of detention to include anywhere an interrogation could take place, including police stations, police vehicles, and schools.
She said in Indiana, only an attorney, parent, or guardian has the legal ability to waive a child’s Miranda rights. Children can only waive their own rights if they are emancipated and give their informed consent.
After passing the Child Interrogation Protection Act in 2022, Maryland established a 24-hour legal hotline Downs said is being studied as a national standard.