Interrogating Juveniles
Robert C. Phillips, Deputy District Attorney (Ret).
October 31, 2022

Necessary admonishments when interrogating minors under the age of 18.

Agent Matt Ryan of the Campbell Police Department recently confronted me with his concerns about law enforcement’s legal right to question juvenile suspects and the necessary admonishments required before you, as a police officer, do so.  In answer to this question, two Welfare and Institutions Code sections come into play: 

Welf. & Inst. Code § 625, which has been around for some six decades, mandates that: “In any case where a minor is taken into temporary custody on the ground that there is reasonable cause for believing that such minor is a person described in  Read More