Legal Decisions of Preadolescent and Adolescent Defendants: Predictors of Confessions, Pleas, Communication with Attorneys, and Appeals

Because of their cognitive immaturity, juvenile defendants often demonstrate a significant deficit in legal understanding. This study examined the legal judgments of 152 defendants between the ages of eleven and seventeen that were detained in a Washington State pretrial detention facility. Each juvenile participated in a thirty-to-forty-minute clinical interview investigating potential predictors of their legal decisions, including cognitive development, psychopathology, legal abilities, situational variables, criminological variables, demographic variables, and others’ advice. The researchers examined the results using chi-squares and ANOVA tests. Participants aged fifteen and younger were more likely to confess and waive their rights to counsel and appeal, but less likely to discuss disagreements with their attorneys. Male participants in particular were less likely to report trusting their attorneys enough to disclose information to them. Participants between ages fifteen and seventeen were more likely to confess, plead guilty, and accept pleas if they thought the evidence against them was strong. Participants from low socioeconomic backgrounds were less likely to invoke their interrogation rights. The study found no age differences in rate of guilty pleas or in reported decisions to accept plea deals. Cognitive abilities were surprisingly not associated with confession decisions.

“As hypothesized by judgment models, this study found important developmental differences in legal decision-making. Not only were preadolescent and early adolescent defendants more likely to waive legal protections, such as interrogation rights and appeals, they were less likely to be influenced by legally relevant information, specifically perceived evidence, in making legal decisions.” p. 273