This past June the US Supreme Court ruled that the Miranda Warning should be considered when the police question a juvenile for suspicion of criminal activity. The case is J.D.B. v. North Carolina and was a 5 to 4 decision with Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor for the majority. The 13 year old was questioned by a police investigator, a police officer and a assistant principal of the school the student attended. The principal advised the youth to "do the right thing". The questioning took place in a closed but not locked area. The boy confessed to the burglaries. The article does not provide much more information other than to note previous cases dealing with juveniles. In 2005 the high court ruled in Roper v. Simmons that the death penalty for a juvenile was unconstitutional. In 2010 they ruled in Graham v. Florida that life without parole for a juvenile was also unconstitutional.
(Source: "Supreme Court gives juveniles protection in police interrogations" by John Kelly in Youth Today dated June 16, 2011. Found on www.youthtoday.org.view_article.cfm?article_id=4846).
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