ABSTRACT
Children under the age of majority—generally, age eighteen—are invested with the same basic constitutional rights as are adults, but those rights are limited and enhanced in many ways to take into consideration youth, immaturity, and inexperience. Citizens of the United States have guaranteed constitutional rights, regardless of age. The Fourteenth Amendment also grants to children, as citizens, equal protection of the laws and the right to due process, although in some states a parent or guardian must exercise these rights on behalf of a minor child. Minors have the same rights as adults when being questioned for a crime. Fifth Amendment rights are protected in the interrogation room by the Miranda warnings, derived from Miranda v. Arizona, 384 US 436. Competent adults must specifically and unambiguously request an attorney or refuse to answer questions in order to invoke their Miranda rights.
