Citation

Eastwood J, Snook B, Luther K. Crime Delinq. 2015; 61(6): 798-828.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0011128712453689

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The reading complexity of a sample of Canadian police youth waiver forms was assessed, and the oral comprehension of a waiver form was examined. In Study 1, the complexity of 31 unique waiver forms was assessed using five readability measures (i.e., waiver length, Flesch-Kincaid grade level, Grammatik sentence complexity, word difficulty, and word frequency).

RESULTS showed that the waivers are lengthy, are written at a relatively high grade level, contain complex sentences, and contain difficult and infrequent words. In Study 2, high school students (N = 32) were presented orally with one youth waiver form and asked to explain its meaning.

RESULTS showed that participants understood approximately 40% of the information contained in the waiver form. The likelihood of the rights of Canadian youths being protected and the need to create a standardized and comprehensible waiver form are discussed. KW: police; legal rights; reading complexity; juvenile justice

Language: en