@article{ref1,
title="Measuring the reading complexity and oral comprehension of Canadian youth waiver forms",
journal="Crime and delinquency",
year="2015",
author="Eastwood, Joseph and Snook, Brent and Luther, Kirk",
volume="61",
number="6",
pages="798-828",
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). <br><br>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. <br><br>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<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0011-1287",
doi="10.1177/0011128712453689",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0011128712453689"
}