Court to weigh in on juvenile suspects

March 23, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON

In September 2005, a 13-year-old boy was pulled out of his class at a Chapel Hill, N.C., middle school, escorted to another room and interrogated behind a closed door by a police detective and three other adults.

The boy confessed a neighborhood larceny. He never was read his so-called Miranda rights, which include the right to an attorney.

Should he have been?

The Supreme Court today will take up a case, J.D.B. vs. North Carolina, that could have sweeping implications for young suspects who are questioned by law enforcement. The question before the court is whether an interrogator should consider a suspect’s age before deciding whether to read the Miranda warning.

Right now, police must decide whether a “reasonable person” would consider themselves in custody. If the answer is yes, then law enforcement must tell the suspect they have the right to remain silent, to call an attorney and, if under 18, to have his or her parents notified.

The court’s decision is important, observers say, because it affects not only how law- enforcement officers do their jobs, but also how juvenile suspects are treated.

“It comes down to the type of society we want to live in,” said Tamar Birckhead, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law who has written about the case.

She and other juvenile-justice advocates argue that children should be given extra consideration by police officers in the early stages of an investigation, including in interrogations.