I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2834 
To protect minors from premature waiver of their constitutional rights during 
a custodial interrogation, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 26, 2021 
Mr. CA´RDENAS (for himself and Ms. BASS) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To protect minors from premature waiver of their constitu-
tional rights during a custodial interrogation, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting Miranda 
Rights for Kids Act’’. 
SEC. 2. WAIVER OF MIRANDA RIGHTS BY A MINOR. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 223 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by inserting after section 3051 
the following: 
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‘‘§ 3501A. Custodial interrogation of a minor 
‘‘(a) NOTIFICATION.—Any law enforcement officer 
who has arrested a minor for a violation of law shall notify 
the minor’s parent, guardian, or legal custodian that the 
minor has been arrested and shall provide the location of 
where the minor is being detained. 
‘‘(b) WAIVER.—A minor who is subject to a custodial 
interrogation may only waive the privilege against self-in-
crimination or the right to assistance of legal counsel if 
the minor consults with legal counsel in person before such 
waiver. 
‘‘(c) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply 
if— 
‘‘(1) custodial interrogation of a minor is nec-
essary to gather information to protect life from an 
imminent threat; and 
‘‘(2) the questions that were asked during the 
custodial interrogation were reasonably necessary to 
obtain such information. 
‘‘(d) ASSIGNED COUNSEL.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A minor who is subject to 
a custodial interrogation shall have the right to have 
the legal counsel assigned to the minor’s case phys-
ically present during such interrogation. 
‘‘(2) VIOLATION.—In the case of custodial in-
terrogation of a minor, it shall be a violation of this 
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subsection for the minor to be represented by any 
substitute counsel temporarily assigned to represent 
the minor. 
‘‘(e) INADMISSIBLE.—In any criminal prosecution 
brought by the United States, any statement given by a 
minor during a custodial interrogation that does not com-
ply with this section, and any evidence derived from that 
statement, shall be inadmissible. 
‘‘(f) MINOR DEFINED.—In this section, the term 
‘minor’ means an individual who has not attained 18 years 
of age.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for chapter 223 of title 18, United States Code, is amend-
ed by inserting after the item relating to section 3501 the 
following item: 
‘‘3501A. Custodial interrogation of a minor.’’. 
Æ 
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