The Impact of Previous Exposure to the Youth Caution on New Zealand Young People's Legal Rights Understanding

<p><strong>New Zealand youth who are arrested or detained are read the Youth Version of the New Zealand Rights Caution (Youth Caution) to inform them of their legal rights. However, comprehension of these rights can be influenced by factors such as cognitive development, stress, and verbal intelligence. Ensuring comprehension is critical, as failure to grasp these rights can lead to uninformed legal decisions. Previous research suggests the Youth Caution’s language is too complex for young people who have never had their legal rights read to them directly, however, little is known about how well young people with direct experience understand these rights. This research assessed legal rights understanding in two groups of young people (aged 10-18): control (n = 29) with no previous exposure, and experimental (n = 16) with previous exposure. Participants were asked to recall, define, and apply key concepts in the Youth Caution using the New Zealand Rights Caution Competency Questionnaire (NZRC-CQ; Fortune et al., 2017). The current study aimed to examine whether young people understand the Youth Caution, whether previous exposure reveals differences in understanding, and the role of age, verbal IQ, and gender in understanding. Results revealed low comprehension across both groups with better understanding in samples with no previous exposure and those with higher verbal IQ scores. Findings suggest that repeated exposure alone does not enhance comprehension and that young people most likely to interact with the justice system may be at the greatest risk of misunderstanding their legal rights. These findings raise concerns about youth decision-making in legal settings and highlight the need for reforms to improve accessibility. Simplified language, verbal explanations, or legal assistance may be necessary to ensure young people can effectively understand and exercise their rights. This study contributes to broader discussions on youth justice and the importance of accessible legal communication worldwide.</strong></p>