Poster Session I
Project Type
Poster
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Ginger Collins
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Communicative Science and Disorders
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Background: Research indicates that adolescents frequently exhibit overconfidence in their knowledge and abilities, often overestimating their actual competence. This overconfidence poses significant risks in legal contexts, where misunderstanding one's civil rights can lead to inadvertent waiver of legal protections and increased legal jeopardy. Miranda warnings, constitutional rights recited during arrest, conclude with officers asking suspects to confirm their understanding. Overconfident adolescents may affirm comprehension despite lacking genuine understanding of these critical protections.
Objective: This study examined the relationship between adolescents' self-rated confidence in understanding Miranda rights and their actual comprehension of Miranda warnings.
Methods: Thirty high school students completed a battery of assessments including standardized cognitive tests, a self-rating scale indicating how confident they felt that they understood the Miranda warning, and multiple measures evaluating comprehension of Miranda warning language and content.
Results: All participants scored within developmental norms on cognitive assessments and rated themselves as highly confident. However, performance on Miranda comprehension measures varied considerably across participants, revealing discrepancies between self-assessed and actual understanding.
Conclusions: These findings highlight a critical gap between adolescent confidence and competence regarding Miranda rights. To optimize legal outcomes for youth, comprehensive education on constitutional rights and their practical implications is essential.
Category
Social Sciences
Examination of Adolescents Self Confidence of their Miranda Warnings
UC South Ballroom
Background: Research indicates that adolescents frequently exhibit overconfidence in their knowledge and abilities, often overestimating their actual competence. This overconfidence poses significant risks in legal contexts, where misunderstanding one's civil rights can lead to inadvertent waiver of legal protections and increased legal jeopardy. Miranda warnings, constitutional rights recited during arrest, conclude with officers asking suspects to confirm their understanding. Overconfident adolescents may affirm comprehension despite lacking genuine understanding of these critical protections.
Objective: This study examined the relationship between adolescents' self-rated confidence in understanding Miranda rights and their actual comprehension of Miranda warnings.
Methods: Thirty high school students completed a battery of assessments including standardized cognitive tests, a self-rating scale indicating how confident they felt that they understood the Miranda warning, and multiple measures evaluating comprehension of Miranda warning language and content.
Results: All participants scored within developmental norms on cognitive assessments and rated themselves as highly confident. However, performance on Miranda comprehension measures varied considerably across participants, revealing discrepancies between self-assessed and actual understanding.
Conclusions: These findings highlight a critical gap between adolescent confidence and competence regarding Miranda rights. To optimize legal outcomes for youth, comprehensive education on constitutional rights and their practical implications is essential.