Clinical Evaluations For Juveniles' Competence To Stand Trial: A Guide For Legal Professionals

by Thomas Grisso

In recent years, attorneys and judges increasingly have referred youths for clinical evaluations of their competence to stand trial, both in juvenile and criminal court. This book is the first guide to assist legal professionals in understanding how these evaluations can be performed by forensic mental health professionals so that they can provide legally relevant information for judicial decisions and offer a developmental psychological perspective that makes such evaluations different when performed with juveniles as opposed to adults. The guide's approach is consistent with nearly a decade of legal and psychological research on juveniles' capacities as trial defendants, conducted by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice. Brief sections describe the current state of laws pertaining to juveniles' competence to stand trial, a developmental perspective on the question, the specific methods that mental health professionals can employ when performing such evaluations with juveniles, and ways to use and challenge the results of their evaluations. The guide's concepts and methods parallel a companion volume for forensic clinicians, Evaluating Juveniles Adjudicative A Guide for Clinical Practice, in a way that offers the potential for a consensual, cross-disciplinary understanding of the legal, clinical, and developmental issues involved in the process of decision-making about juveniles' competence as trial defendants.

Paperback

First published January 1, 2005