Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Re: can a 14 year old be questioned by detectives w/ no parents

A judge must weight a number of factors before deciding whether a juvenile's statement was voluntary:

1. whether Miranda rules were complied with (remember: Miranda rights must be read only if the person is "in custody"), and the juvenile clearly understood and waived his/her rights;

2. the degree of police compliance with statutory or other requirements;

3. the presence of an adult parent, custodian or guardian;

4. the juvenile's personal background, age, education, intelligence level, the extent of his prior experience with police;

5. the length of detention prior to the interview;

6. the repeated or prolonged nature of the questioning;

7. whether he was injured, intoxicated, ill, physically abused or threatened with abuse, deprived of food, sleep or medication.

This in not an exhaustive list, it's just what most court opinions include. The judge must consider the "totality of the circumstances" to decide if the statement was voluntary. No one factor (e.g., parents being present) should be determinative of whether the statement was "voluntary". It all depends on the individual judge who makes the decision; some are very strict against the cops, and some are more lenient.

Obviously, if the kid says (like an adult) "I want to speak to a lawyer", then all questioning ends there.