Evaluation of Youth in the Juvenile Justice System

This chapter provides an overview of the juvenile justice system and its history. This chapter also provides an overview of a number of clinical issues critical to understanding adolescents and their involvement in the juvenile justice system. Central to forensic assessments of juveniles charged with an offense are three substantive clinical issues: (1) psychosocial maturity and developmental status, (2) risk for future offending or violence, and (3) the nature and extent of the juvenile's antisocial behavior and character. The chapter reviews each of these areas and discusses the specific psycholegal questions to which they most frequently are applied. Whether juvenile offenders are processed in the adult or juvenile justice system, issues regarding the risk for future violence are present at almost every stage. Assessments of violence risk in children and adolescents differ from parallel assessments with adults. The key reason for this difference is that juveniles are in a significant and simultaneous state of transition in multiple spheres of development. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the forensic evaluation of juveniles.