The Network on compared the responses of youth and adults in a series of hypothetical legal situations, such as plea bargains, police interrogations, and attorney-client interactions. Responses revealed the degree to which participants understood the long-term consequences of their decisions, their ability to weigh risks, and other factors related to developmental and cognitive maturity. Findings show that a significant portion of youth, especially under age 15, are likely unable to participate competently in their own trials, either in an adult or juvenile court, owing to developmental immaturity.
Network researchers compared PCL assessments over time for 200 juveniles versus 120 adults, divided evenly between “psychopathic” and “non-psychopathic” individuals. Adolescents and adults were recruited from secure facilities and interviewed and assessed at four different times: baseline, one month, one year, and two years. The researchers also assessed three developmental characteristics: responsibility (including resistance to peer pressure), perspective, and self-control. Preliminary results suggest that juveniles’ scores on the PCL-YV, relative to adults, declined more over time. One logical conclusion, the researchers suggest, is that the decline in scores among teens may stem from their increasing maturity.
The community-based standards, founded upon emerging research, are designed to integrate new and exciting findings that inform successful treatment outcomes, provide a guide for treatment that is safe for all members of a community, and are cost-effective. The standards are not designed to supplant existing residential and/or state standards, but rather to fill in gaps, inspire, and provide a reference point for a comprehensive continuum of care.
The study, which is following 1,355 serious offenders aged 14 to 17 in two cities, finds that a majority of the adolescents report little or no involvement in antisocial activities three years after their involvement with the court. Moreover, a sizable group — about 15%—go from a very high level of involvement to almost none.
This report examines the plight of pre-adolescent children-primarily those who are 12 and under-who are caught up in the adult criminal justice system. The authors state "Whatever policy-makers may think about treating older teen offenders as adults, we hope that our research demonstrates that pre-adolescents present an entirely different set of challenges. Young children are still developing their brains and personalities and are capable of rehabilitation, yet they are often denied that redemptive possibility due to the imposition of lengthy mandatory sentences.
This document reports on the Network’s Study of Juvenile Culpability which was designed to provide scientific data on whether, in what ways, and at what ages adolescents differ from adults
White Paper based on reviews of the literature on the efficacy of residential treatment and alternative treatments for youth with serious emotional disturbance . The paper concludes that while residential treatment remains an important component of a system of care, for most youth, community-based interventions represent a more appropriate and less costly alternative to residential placement
This report recognizes "California’s failed approach to youth corrections" and makes the following recommendations for reform • Create or expand county and/or regional-based treatment facilities that can absorb the youth offender populations currently housed in state-run correctionalfacilities. • Create a permanent funding stream that reallocates resources from state-run correctional institutions to county probation departments. • Establish a state-administered oversight body that provides technical assistance and body that provides technical assistance and monitoring of county and regional juvenile justice treatment and custodial programs. • Utilize private and nonprofit agencies’ evidence-based services and programs to expand the range of correctional options at the county and regional level.
A recent study shows that about 20% of U.S. teenagers (including 11% of teen girls ages 13-16) admit to producing and distributing nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves. This article considers whether people, particularly teenagers, have a constitutional right to record and document their own legal activities, in particular, sexual conduct and nudity. Such "autopornography" may sometimes be considered legally obscene, a category that is not, of course, protected by the First Amendment. But even pictures and videos that are not obscene may still be illegal if they fall into the broad constitutional category of "child pornography.
In 2003, the widely publicized youth prison crisis led to a lawsuit against DJJ alleging inhumane conditions. The lawsuit, Farrell v. Allen, was settled in 2004. "But the DJJ has so dramatically failed to comply with court-ordered remedial plans that plaintiffs have sought a receiver to take over the reforms. This document is a report card and analysis from "Books Not Bars, an Ella Baker Center for Human Rights campaign" on the DJJ prisons.
By comparing similar offenders in two settings who were arrested and charged with the same felony offenses during the same time period, the researchers were able to determine whether treating juveniles as adults in the legal system is an effective deterrent to crime. The results suggest that harsher sentences and adult punishment are ineffective deterrents to crime among the juveniles in this sample.