Interrogating Juveniles; Custody, Beheler, & Common Sense

Interrogating Juveniles; Custody, Beheler, & Common Sense

By Robert C. Phillips
DDA: Retired
April, 2018

It is becoming increasingly recognized that juveniles present a unique problem in attempting to obtain incriminatory statements in the custodial interrogation setting.  It is estimated, for instance, that of the false confessions obtained by law enforcement, more than one third (35%) of such confessions are obtained from individuals under the age of 18.[1]

If you have difficulty accepting this premise, you should know that yet another appellate court decision has recently come down graphically illustrating this fact.   In In re I.F.,[2] California’s Third District Court of Appeal describes in encyclopedic detail the plight of a 12-year-old murder suspect as ....