No description available.

No description available.

Juveniles' right to be competent to stand trial has been increasingly recognized since In re Gault (1967) granted juveniles essential due process rights. One formulation of competence proposes two facets: competence to assist counsel (e.g., understanding the roles of legal actors, the adversarial system,) and decisional competence (Bonnie, 1992). The first goal of this project was to investigate the psychometric properties and relevant correlates of one instrument to assess competence to assist counsel, the Competence Assessment for Standing Trial for Defendants with Mental Retardation (CAST-MR; this study used only the first two scales). Results indicated acceptable internal consistency, although concerns were raised regarding the appropriateness of some items. Scores were related to age and intelligence, as in prior research. No relationship was found with most mental health scale scores, prior legal system involvement, contact with defense counsel, or learning problems. The second goal of the study centered on decisional competence and the role of immaturity; specifically whether age is associated with immature judgment (assessed using the Judgment in Legal Contexts instrument) and if immature judgment predicts decisions made about one's own case. The current study found few significant relationships between age or intelligence and variables coded from the JILC (including authority compliance, risk recognition, risk appraisal, future recognition, resistance to peer influence). Additionally, age and the perceived strength of evidence were not predictive of individuals' decisions to confess, to fully disclose to defense counsel, or to accept a plea bargain. Juveniles who had confessed scored higher on future recognition, those who fully disclosed to their attorney scored lower on authority compliance, and those who would accept a plea bargain scored higher on risk recognition and appraisal. While the results were modest, they suggest that immature performance on a judgment measure may predict individuals' legal decision-making. If a juvenile fails to appreciate the potential consequences of legal decisions, his or her decisional competence may be questioned. Generally, immaturity may need to be recognized as a basis for findings of incompetence if performance on relevant skills is shown to improve with age and immature performance is shown to interfere with competency.

No description available.

American justice systems are among the most punitive in the world. Young people who come into conflict with the law should be diverted into community-based programs, instead of being adjudicated by courts and sent to systems of incarceration. Research demonstrates the ineffectiveness of incarceration as a means of delinquency control and the ways it actually worsens juveniles’ circumstances.

Juvenile sex offenders represent a serious and violent group of delinquents. Despite the severity of their crimes, the literature focusing on risk factors that influence recidivism and the types of re-arrest after incarceration is lacking. This research study examined 499 determinately sentenced juvenile sex offenders that were released from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. This sample was then followed for three years upon their release. This analysis revealed that 51.5 percent were re-arrested for any offense while 45.91 percent were re-arrested for a felony offense. This study identified a number of risk factors relative to JSO recidivism. These factors include having a history of emotional abuse, race being African American, being gang affiliated, having a larger number of previous adjudications, and having higher counts of institutional misconduct infractions. Those JSOs older at intake and release, and those who were incarcerated for longer periods of time were less likely to re-offend upon release. Lastly, this study ends with suggestions for future research as well as policy implications geared toward juvenile sex offenders.

Thesis. 1979. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaf 99. / M.C.P.

This thesis interrogates the emergence of a universal modern idea of childhood in the Madras Presidency between 1920 and 1942. It considers the construction and uses of ‘childhood’ as a conceptual category and the ways in which this informed intervention in the lives of children, particularly in the spheres of education and juvenile justice. Against a background of calls for national self-determination, the thesis considers elite debates about childhood as specifically ‘Indian’, examining the ways in which ‘the child’ emerged in late colonial South India as an object to be reformed and as a ‘human becoming’ or future citizen of an independent nation. Social reform in late colonial India is often assumed to be an area of conflict, particularly informed by racial difference. Children are seen as key targets in the competition between the colonial state and Indian politicians and professionals. However, a detailed study of the 1920 Madras Children Act and 1920 Elementary Education Act reveals the development of consensual decisions in regard to child welfare and the expansion of a ‘social’ realm, which existed outside the political. Dyarchy profoundly changed the nature of government and in policy areas related to children the ‘state’ was Indian in character, action and personnel. This thesis contends that the discursive emergence of ‘the child’ was complicated when legislation was implemented. By tracing implementation it demonstrates the extent to which modern childhood was a symbolic claim, rather than political commitment to children. Tracing the interactions between adults in authority - whether as parents, teachers, politicians or civil society activists – the thesis explores the extent to which the avowedly universal category of childhood was subsumed beneath other identities based on class, caste and gender. Understanding childhood through a variety of administration reports, political debates and pedagogical journals reflects the views and actions of adults. By utilising the remembered experience of middle-class children in autobiographies and the layered archival evidence of aristocratic children under the jurisdiction of the Court of Wards, the thesis balances adult discourses with an awareness of children as historical agents. It considers the ways in which children learned, played and interacted with each other. Finally, therefore, it charts the limits of adult authority and the ways differing identities were experienced in the lives of children in southern India in the early twentieth century.

The juvenile justice system was established as a result of an unprecedented movement pioneered by the child savers. Child savers strived to protect America's children from physical and moral harm. Since the juvenile justice system's inception, research has focused extensively on the effectiveness of the juvenile system. Numerous studies have observed the perceptions of the general public, juvenile probation officers, and juvenile correctional staff regarding the juvenile justice system. The current study examined actual participants in the juvenile justice system to assess their opinions of the system that was designed to serve, protect, and rehabilitate them into active members of society. A survey was conducted with juvenile offenders who had been placed on court mandated juvenile probation, and their responses were analyzed and compared with previous research regarding the effectiveness of the juvenile justice system.

Background: The process of level of care (LOC) determination has been traditionally fraught with unreliability and lack of objectivity. There is a similar need for reliable objective LOC determination tools for youth in the juvenile justice systems, which have high prevalence of psychiatric disorders and unmet mental health needs and are disproportionately from minority backgrounds. The CASII has already demonstrated significant interrater reliability and validity in studies with mental health and child welfare populations. Method: In 2004 and 2005, the Tennessee CPORT team reviewed 206 youth in the juvenile justice system ages 13 and older, 92.8% male, with 37.4% Caucasian, 55.8% African American. Instruments used included the CASII, CAFAS, CBCL, YSR, TRF, and the CPORT Child and Family Indicators. Results: There was a significant correlation between all of the CASII subscales and the CAFAS Total Scores (Pearson coefficients 0.210 to 0.618). The CASII Total Score and the CASII LOC were both highly correlated to CBCL, the YSR, and the TRF total scores and sub-scales. Significant correlations between the CASII LOC were found in 10 of the 13 CPORT Child and Family Indicators, while actual LOC placement was significantly correlated with only 4 of the 13 dimensions. The actual LOC placement was significantly different than recommended CASII LOC (p < 0.0000), with the majority of recommended LOCs being lower. Conclusions: This LOC tool is demonstrating high levels of reliability and validity in different systems of care settings, including juvenile justice, child welfare, and mental health contexts. Use of the CASII could result in significant savings in resources that could be used to provide services for adolescent offenders, and in reduction in unnecessary restrictiveness of placements.