Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The Competence-Related Abilities of Adolescent Defendants in Criminal Court

The Competence-Related Abilities of Adolescent Defendants in Criminal Court Increasing numbers of youths are being tried in criminal court because of statutory measures that have decreased the use of judicial review as the primary mechanism for transfer. The relative immaturity of adolescents suggests that transferred youths might have impaired competence-related abilities compared to adults. To test this hypothesis, we compared the competence-related abilities and developmental characteristics of a sample of direct-filed 16–17-year-olds charged in criminal court in the state of Florida (Direct File sample) to a sample of 18–24-year-old adults charged in criminal courts (Adult Offender sample) and to a separate sample of 16–17-year-olds charged in juvenile court (Juvenile Court sample). Results indicated that there were few differences between the Direct File youths and Adult Offenders. The differences that were observed suggested that the Direct Filed youths performed slightly better than the Adult Offender group and the Juvenile Court youths charged in juvenile court. These findings suggest that as a group, 16–17-year-old Direct File adolescents do not have significant deficits in competence-related abilities due to age or immaturity. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Law and Human Behavior American Psychological Association

The Competence-Related Abilities of Adolescent Defendants in Criminal Court

Download PDF
18 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/american-psychological-association/the-competence-related-abilities-of-adolescent-defendants-in-criminal-dt8zQ0BXjE

References (37)

Publisher
American Psychological Association
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 American Psychological Association
ISSN
0147-7307
eISSN
1573-661X
DOI
10.1007/s10979-006-9005-4
pmid
16729209
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Increasing numbers of youths are being tried in criminal court because of statutory measures that have decreased the use of judicial review as the primary mechanism for transfer. The relative immaturity of adolescents suggests that transferred youths might have impaired competence-related abilities compared to adults. To test this hypothesis, we compared the competence-related abilities and developmental characteristics of a sample of direct-filed 16–17-year-olds charged in criminal court in the state of Florida (Direct File sample) to a sample of 18–24-year-old adults charged in criminal courts (Adult Offender sample) and to a separate sample of 16–17-year-olds charged in juvenile court (Juvenile Court sample). Results indicated that there were few differences between the Direct File youths and Adult Offenders. The differences that were observed suggested that the Direct Filed youths performed slightly better than the Adult Offender group and the Juvenile Court youths charged in juvenile court. These findings suggest that as a group, 16–17-year-old Direct File adolescents do not have significant deficits in competence-related abilities due to age or immaturity.

Journal

Law and Human Behavior – American Psychological Association

Published: Feb 28, 2006

There are no references for this article.