Can the Police Question a Child at School

[Kristeen]

My question involves juvenile law in the State of: Louisiana
My 10yr old daughter was questioned by a police officer at school for allegedly calling a kid fat on the bus. I was notified after by the officer when he got back to the station. Is this legal? Time limitation to file complaint.

[Dogmatique]

Not illegal. Sorry.

[Taxing Matters]

I’m not sure why a police officer was involved in questioning the kid over calling someone else “fat.” That’s certainly not a crime. In any event, neither the U.S. Constitution nor any federal statute prohibits law enforcement officers from questioning kids nor does federal law require that parents be present during questioning. Louisiana law imposes no greater requirements than federal law does. In short, the officer may question a child because there is no law prohibiting it.

The issue of whether the kid’s statements made during that questioning is admissible in court to use against the kid in a criminal case is another matter. Depending on the totality of the circumstances, it might be that the defense attorney for a 10 year-old kid could show that the kind did not fully understand her right to remain silent and to ask for an attorney and any statements she made might be supressed and not used against her. Louisiana used to have a standard where the kid must have had the opportunity to speak to a lawyer or an interested adult prior to making any statements to police for those statements to be admissible. But the state Supreme Court reversed its earlier decision on that and reverted to the less demanding federal rule. State v. Fernandez, 712 So. 2d 485 (La. 1998).