Dissertation
Evaluating legal learning: the effects of time and development on adolescents' understanding of legal rights
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Jun 2008
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-2833
Abstract
The U.S. Supreme Court case, In re Gault (1967), afforded juvenile suspects the due process rights to silence and counsel. However, nearly 40 years later, it remains unclear as to whether adolescents benefit from these rights. Previous research suggests that youth younger than 15 years, as a class, do not demonstrate adequate understanding of their rights, fail to appreciate the consequences of waiving their rights, and are at an increased risk, compared with adults, of offering a false confession. To address these issues, an educational curriculum was developed to teach youth ages 10 through 16 years about their rights to silence and counsel. The current dissertation is the second part in a two-part study examining the long-term effectiveness of the curriculum. Fifty-seven students participated in pre-, post-, and follow-up assessments to determine cognitive (i.e., ability to acquire factual knowledge of rights) and psychosocial (i.e., ability to weigh short- and long-term consequences of legal decisions) capacities at various developmental stages. Findings revealed significant changes in participants' factual understanding of their rights from pre- to post-test, with changes maintained one year later. A similar pattern of results was found for appreciation of Miranda rights from pre- to post-testing, but only the 13 and 14 year olds continued to show these improvements one year later, at follow-up testing. Changes in scores on measures of psychosocial abilities were less linear, and they appeared to be less related to information presented in the curriculum than did scores on measures of cognitive abilities. The implications of these findings are discussed.
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Details
- Title
- Evaluating legal learning
- Creators
- Rachel Kalbeitzer - DU
- Contributors
- Naomi E. Goldstein (Advisor) - Drexel University (1970-)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences (Psychology); College of Arts and Sciences; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 2833; 991014632076104721