You have the right to remain silent: The ability of adolescents with developmental language disorder to understand their legal rights.

PURPOSE: This study compared Miranda Rights comprehension of adolescents with developmental language disorder (DLD) and their typically developing (TD) peers.

METHOD: Instruments for Assessing Understanding and Appreciation of Miranda Rights (Grisso, 1998) was administered to 20 adolescents with DLD and 20 age-matched TD peers.

RESULTS

The DLD group exhibited significantly greater difficulty in understanding and appreciating Miranda Rights than their TD peers. Adolescents with DLD were 7 times more likely to be at risk of failing to sufficiently understand the Miranda warnings than adolescents in the TD group.

DISCUSSION: Adolescents with DLD are particularly vulnerable to failing to understand Miranda Rights and the consequences of waiving them. Future work should determine if there is a link between difficulty comprehending legal rights and the high prevalence of adolescents with language disorder in juvenile detention facilities.