Anyone who’s watched a cop show on television in recent decades has a decent understanding -- or at least a memory -- of the rights accorded to those arrested: the right to an attorney, the right to remain silent and all the other protections given to the accused over the past half-century, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1966 decision in Miranda v. Arizona.

But juvenile offenders often don’t have a clear understanding of what those rights entail. Back in 2013, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry concluded that Miranda warnings are “too complex and advanced” for most juveniles. The group recommended that “police and other law enforcement authorities should utilize simplified Miranda warnings developed specifically for use with juvenile suspects.”

Now, the sheriff’s office in King County, Wash., has done just that. Working collaboratively with the public defender’s office and a community nonprofit, the sheriff consulted with brain researchers to come up with simplified warnings, which were then focus-grouped among teens. “For the most part, we have always done the same warning for kids that we do for adults,” says Sheriff John Urquhart. “We came to the conclusion, as we know now, that kids’ brains develop slower. To be fair, we thought we should revise the warning so that they understand what their constitutional rights are.”

[For more on this story by ALAN GREENBLATT, go to http://www.governing.com/topic...ights-juveniles.html]