Youth and the Law

The Miranda Ruling:

Since 1966 police nation wide have carried small cards with the warnings criminal suspects are entitled to receive before being questioned. The wording can vary slightly, and here is a typical version:

You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to the presence of an attorney to assist you prior to questioning, and to be with you during the questioning if you so desire.
If you cannot afford an attorney, you have the right to retain an attorney appointed for you prior to the questioning.
Do you understand these rights?

Child Legal Rights Links

Youth Rights

Youth Free Expression Network

The Youth Free Expression Network is a national coalition of teens and adults committed to defending the free expression rights of youth. Faced with Internet filters, "abstinence-only" sex education, and other restrictions on young people's access to ideas, YFEN's goal is to empower youth to advocate on their own behalf. In the process, YFEN aims to educate the public that censorial measures enacted in the presumed interest of "protecting" youth not only prevent minors from learning, thinking, and exploring; they deprive them of critical information on subjects ranging from human rights and feminism to drugs and safer sex.

Youth Bill of Rights

The National Child Rights Alliance believes that civil rights apply to all people - including children and youth. NCRA works to establish these rights for children:

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The Right to Liberty

No children shall be forced to live in any household against their will - this includes biologic as well as foster and adoptive households. No children shall be forced into marriage. No children shall be institutionalized against their will without due process rights.

The Right to Safety

All children shall have the right to safe haven on request, without fear of criminal charges. NCRA supports Sanctuary for Children, and is establishing a fund in defense of this right.

The Right to Survival

All children have the right to adequate food, shelter, medical care and a healthy environment. NCRA supports a free national health care system for children which is not dependent on parental income nor parental permission and living wage rights for workers, and a guaranteed income for those unable to work, so that families need not be torn apart by poverty.

The Right to Education

All children shall have the right to a free education - including college and technical schools - at public expense. Programs must be free of cultural, racial or gender bias in all respects.

The Right of Free Speech

All children shall have the right of free speech. This includes both in personal expression and in school-based and public media.

The Right of Non-Discrimination

NCRA supports all efforts to end curtailment of a child's potential and self-esteem based on age, race, gender, language, country of origin, the economic or marital status of parents, religious or sexual preference, and physical or mental limitations or differences.

The Right of Free Choice

No child shall be either forced or forbidden to choose a religious or political affiliation, philosophy or creed.

The Right to an Attorney

All children shall have the right to legal representation whereby the attorneys act as an attorney for - not guardian of - their clients.

National Child Rights Alliance The National Youth Rights Association is the nationŐs premier youth rights organization. NYRA is a youth-led national non-profit organization dedicated to fighting for the civil rights and liberties of young people. In the grand tradition of the civil rights movements in the past, we seek to write a new chapter, and create a world where people are not judged by their birth date, but by the content of their character.