Twelve-year-olds may look and act cool, but their brains are still works in progress, especially the part in charge of decision-making. Their fluctuating hormones help explain why they tuck eyeliner and stuffed animals into their slumber party bags. They take risks, and sometimes these risks kill them. Accidents, from car and bike crashes to athletic field mishaps, are the leading cause of death and disability for adolescents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Salk Middle School students Taylor Wyatt and KellyAnn Cameron were 12 last fall when they were questioned by Spokane police at school. Police believed the girls knew something about vandalism near a construction site. The girls signed forms waiving their Miranda rights to remain silent and have an attorney present. Their parents were not called before the police interview.

The girls say now they didn’t even know what a Miranda warning was. The case exposes flaws in Idaho and Washington laws and in school district policy.

Among the seven states with minimum-age laws for waiving rights, Washington is the only one that allows preteens to do so. In the other six states, the cutoff age ranges from 14 to 16.

Idaho doesn’t even have minimum age requirements. Instead, authorities use a subjective process to decide whether adolescents understand their Miranda rights and what waiving them really means. That’s a lot of power in the hands of authorities who may have difficulty deciding whether a preteen’s street-smart exterior belies a teddy-bear brain.

A state-law fix in Washington would mean raising the age for waiving Miranda rights to at least 14. And in Idaho, it means setting a reasonable minimum age.

Spokane Public Schools officials say notifying parents before a police interrogation at school would cause delays in important investigations. And police say parents could interfere with their questioning. Both arguments are valid. But a common-sense argument trumps this reasoning.

These are 12-year-olds being questioned by police – at school. This isn’t just a field trip (which requires parental permission, by the way). This is serious stuff, with civil liberties involved. And even in embarrassing, serious stuff, young people often want their parents’ advice. For instance, without any legal compulsion to do so, more than 50 percent of adolescents consult a parent about contraceptive use, according to the American Psychological Association.

Adults who deal with preteens on a daily basis know how tough and manipulative some youngsters can be. But they are still very young. Their brains and bodies are in flux. They can’t legally drive, drink, smoke, vote or marry, thank goodness, and they shouldn’t be asked to sign away rights they might not understand or even know they possess.

The default position here should be clear for adults who run our school districts: Notify parents first. Ask questions later.