and emotional assistance. Overall, it would seem that this is normally the case when a parent is present: when family relationships so allow, the presence of a parent seems to have a positive eff ect. Th e research in the Netherlands and
Poland seems to show that parents (or other adults) can off er good support (emotional, psychological and even practical) to the young suspect. In a couple of Dutch cases the mothers involved were able to give relief or to make practical arrangements for their son’s job. Th e risk seems to be – at least when looking at the Italian and Polish experience referred to by practitioners – that parents may be “overly intrusive”, either siding too much with their child (as Polish offi cers lamented) or, on the contrary, by assuming a position of blame towards their children. Th e police offi cers in the Italian Focus group interviews reported on some intrusive behaviour of parents, to the point that they would ask them to intervene only at the end of the interrogation. Th is matches the results of previous studies, which questioned the parents’ ability to provide meaningful protections for juveniles in interrogation. For instance, Grisso and Ring observed that “the socially accepted role which a parent plays in raising a child, and the child-rearing practices associated with that role, may be incompatible with the task of deciding what is in the best interest of one’s child in the context of adversarial legal proceedings”.117 In general, the literature documents that parents
might not be well equipped to act as AAs118, because their ability to be objective
117 Grisso and Ring 1979, p. 224. 118 Brown 1997.
can be overcome by their emotional involvement with their child119, let alone
that parents oft en do not have adequate understanding of legal procedures.120
Th e prior studies also document the lack of clear standards for determining a possible confl ict of interest between parents (and other familial members) who are acting as the AA and the juvenile.121
Th e views on the importance of requiring the presence of an AA diff er between countries and from category to category of interviewees. In Belgium, for instance, where there is no requirement to have an AA, the position of offi cers and lawyers mirrors the legislation and considers that the AAs provide no added value. In the Netherlands most of the young people interviewed did not consider the presence of a trusted person to be strictly necessary and police offi cers too did not see the attendance of AAs too favourably. Th ey stressed that the presence of parents can infl uence the juvenile’s willingness to tell the truth.
Th e criticism raised against AAs for being too emotionally involved and not neutral is however applicable only to parents (or other close relatives) and not to social workers.
Th e role of AAs can change depending on whether a lawyer is also present. Where the AA is on their own, not only should he off er psychological and emotional assistance but he is also tasked with ensuring the fairness of the interrogation. Th ere is no doubt that the adult can be a restraining factor on the behaviour of the police, encouraging the interrogating offi cers to adopt – as a Polish girl put it – a more “humane” behaviour. Th is has been highlighted in previous empirical studies.122 It also seems to be the case that the presence
of an AA can help to reduce the juveniles’ fear of the police. However the AAs generally lack the legal skills required to advise juveniles over legal issues arising and, particularly to challenge inappropriate police behaviour.
In general, it seems that the role of AAs remains partly undefi ned. Th e English experience of social/youth justice workers explicitly raises the issue of the ambiguity of the role of adults in England and Wales123, between referee
(mediator) and caregiver for the juvenile. In that country this ambiguity is emphasised by the existence of three types of AAs: the parents (family members) who are not trained and then the trained AAs who are predominantly volunteers recruited by local services or, in some areas, YOT workers which could (but not always) include those with a social work background. In Italy the role of AAs 119 Gudjonsson 2003.
120 Grisso 1980, 1163 and Woolard et al. 2008. 121 Farber 2004, p. 1291.
122 Medford, Gudjonsson and Pearse 2003, p. 263 (observing in the UK a greater openness by
offi cers, a higher willingness to explain procedural formalities, a reduced use of tactics and a milder confrontational attitude: “offi cers interviewing adult suspects without an AA were signifi cantly more likely to challenge the suspect’s account with reference to what was known and what was not and they also interrupted the suspect more oft en when giving their version of events”).
and social services are distinct, with the former aiming at emotional support and the latters at psychological support; in the study it emerged that the Italian social workers are present only in a small amount of cases, yet they can positively complement the parents and the lawyer with their preparation and experience.
Research conducted in England has found that AAs can have the positive eff ect of increasing the likelihood of the presence of a legal representative.124
From the research fi ndings it would appear that this can be more the case with trained/specialised AAs.125 Th e English volunteers and YOTs we spoke to follow
a policy of always requesting a lawyer to be involved, but it is not known to what extent such a policy is refl ected in other areas. It remains less clear if the same positive eff ect is connected to the involvement of parents (or other relatives).
5.9. THE ROLE OF APPROPR IATE ADULTS IN THE