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41 W. St. U. L. Rev. 29 (2013-2014)
Children under Pressure: the Problem of Juvenile False Confessions and Potential Solutions

handle is hein.journals/wsulr41 and id is 33 raw text is: Children Under Pressure: The Problem of Juvenile False Confessions and Potential Solutions Laurel LaMontagne* I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................... 30 II. THE FALSE CONFESSION ............................................ 32 A . C lassification .................................................. 32 B. Proving a Confession is False ................................... 33 III. WHY CONFESS? ANATOMICAL CHANGES IN THE DEVELOPING BRAIN AND CONSEQUENT BEHAVIOR ........................................... 34 IV. EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY STUDIES .................................. 36 V. OUTSIDE THE LAB: Two POINTS OF VULNERABILITY IN THE INTERROGATION PROCESS ............................................... 39 A. W aiver of M iranda Rights ...................................... 39 B . The Interrogation ............................................... 42 VI. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS .............................................. 45 A. Deceptive Interrogation Practices and the Police Code of Ethics .. 45 B. False Confessions and Prosecutorial Misconduct ................. 48 VII. PROCEDURAL SAFEGUARDS AND POTENTIAL REFORMS .................. 50 A. Juvenile Interrogations Must Be Electronically Recorded ......... 50 B. Juveniles Cannot Waive Their Miranda Rights without an Attorney P resent ........................................................ 52 C. Miranda Warnings Must be Rewritten in Developmentally- Appropriate Language .......................................... 53 D. Juveniles Cannot be Subject to the Same Coercive Interrogation Techniques as Adults ........................................... 54 E. Juvenile Defense Attorneys Need the Opportunity Present Expert Testimony on False Confessions ................................ 55 F. Technology Could Eventually Improve the Accuracy of Juvenile Interrogations .................................................. 56 V III. CONCLUSION ....................................................... 56 Only a child who is very hardened in false-hood, very fearful of consequences, or else truthful, will reiterate 'it is so anyway,' even to tears in the face of evidence he cannot rebut, while others will confess or simulate a false confession as the easiest issue.' * J.D. Candidate, May 2014, UCLA School of Law. I would like to thank Professor Jyoti Nanda for her guidance on this research. 1. Edward L. Thomdike, Notes on Child Study, 8 COLUM. U. CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHIL., PSYCHOL. & EDUC. 205, 322 (1901) (quoting G.S. Hall).

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