Did he understand his rights? Assessing the comprehensibility of police cautions in New Zealand

Bibliographic Data

ID19535336
AuthorsBronwen Innes (University of Auckland), Rosemary Erlam (0000-0001-8736-463X, University of Auckland)
Year2018
Volume25
Issue1
Pages21-51
Publication date2018-09-10
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Speech Language and the Law (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1748-8885 • E-ISSN: 1748-8893
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1558/ijsll.32748
OpenAlexW2891936734
LanguageEN
Citations received7

The authors’ experience in conducting English language proficiency tests for second language speakers of English facing police charges has shown that some have limited understanding of their legal rights. The research study reported here comments on the complexity of the rights information presented by police to a range of participants. It investigates comprehension of that information by performing listening and reading comprehension tests with the participants. The results indicate a number of difficulties and a significant difference in the scores of first and second language speakers of English. This article outlines the tests performed and the results for both first and second language speakers, as well as discussing the complexity of the questions found difficult by participants. The results reinforce the need to ask whether people are being given their rights if they cannot understand them

Active listening · Cognitive psychology · Comprehension · Language proficiency · Linguistics · Listening comprehension · Mathematics education · Reading comprehension · Communication · Deception detection and forensic psychology · Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare · Psychology · Social Psychology

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