Custodial interrogations often lay the foundation for the criminal charges brought against suspects. They can also signal to officers of the law whether an investigation should be narrowed, broadened, or shifted elsewhere. Suspects generally retain the discretion to waive their right to counsel and speak to police outside of the presence of an attorney during these interrogations, subject to a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver. But what if the suspect is a minor?
The current law in Illinois, as part of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987, is that statements made by minors during custodial interrogations without counsel present are presumed inadmissible and the burden is on the prosecution to show that the statement was voluntary and is reliable based on the totality of the circumstances. A bill filed in the Illinois Senate in 2024 tried to change this rule. Under Senate Bill 3321 (“SB 3321”), minors arrested in connection with a criminal offense in Illinois would be completely prohibited from waiving their right to counsel to speak with police during custodial interrogations.
This Note argues that SB 3321 should never become the law in Illinois and that comparable legislation should not be adopted in other states. Blanket prohibitions of a minor’s ability to waive counsel fail to reflect the wide range of adolescent maturity levels, put pressure on the already excessive caseloads of appointed defense attorneys, and frustrate the work of law enforcement among rising levels of juvenile homicide and gun violence. This Note recommends that instead, states should continue to adopt procedures to ensure waiver validity.
* J.D. Candidate, 2026, University of Illinois College of Law; B.A., 2023, The University of Virginia. Thank you to my fellow University of Illinois Law Review editors and members for diligently catching my mistakes and for being some of my closest friends. Special shoutout to Jennifer Duffy for being the engine that keeps our journal running behind the scenes. Another big thank you to Scott Szala for his indispensable input and support of this Note since the very beginning. Finally, thank you to my parents, Gail Noll and John Milhiser, who have shown me by example what it means to be good people, great lawyers, and wonderful parents.
The full text of this Note is available to download as a PDF.