Juveniles' competence to stand trial: A comparison of adolescents' and adults' capacities as trial defendants.

Abstract

Abilities associated with adjudicative competence were assessed among 927 adolescents in juvenile detention facilities and community settings. Adolescents' abilities were compared to those of 466 young adults in jails and in the community. Participants at 4 locations across the United States completed a standardized measure of abilities relevant for competence to stand trial (the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication) as well as a new procedure for assessing psychosocial influences on legal decisions often required of defendants (MacArthur Judgment Evaluation). Youths aged 15 and younger performed more poorly than young adults, with a greater proportion manifesting a level of impairment consistent with that of persons found incompetent to stand trial. Adolescents also tended more often than young adults to make choices (e.g., about plea agreements) that reflected compliance with authority, as well as influences of psychosocial immaturity. Implications of these results for policy and practice are discussed, with an emphasis on the development of legal standards that recognize immaturity as a potential predicate of incompetence to stand trial.

Are adolescents less mature than adults?: Minors' access to abortion, the juvenile death penalty, and the alleged APA "flip-flop."

“…The results of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network's earlier study of age differences in competence to stand trial, which depends on individuals' ability to understand facts about a court proceeding and to reason with those facts in a rational fashion, also were consistent with these findings. We found significant differences between the competence-related abilities of adults and those of adolescents who were 15 and younger, but no differences between the abilities of adults and those of adolescents who were 16 and older (Grisso et al, 2003). This general pattern, indicating that adolescents attain adult levels of competence to stand trial somewhere around age 15, has been reported in similar studies of Jennifer Woolard decision making across a wide variety of domains (e.g., Grisso, 1980;Jacobs-Quadrel, Fischhoff, & Davis, 1993) and in many studies of age differences in individuals' competence to provide informed consent (Belter & Grisso, 1984;Grisso & Vierling, 1978;Gustafson & McNamara, 1987;Weithorn & Campbell, 1982).…”

“…As we noted earlier, in addition to the present study, the MacArthur Network also conducted a study of age differences in capacities related to competence to stand trial (Grisso et al, 2003). The main instrument used to assess these capacities was the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT-CA), a standardized interview that measures respondents' understanding of and reasoning about their legal situation (Poythress et al, 1999).…”

“…Although the abilities necessary for competence to stand trial are not identical to those necessary for competent decision making about abortion, they are conceptually similar in that both involve being able to understand and reason with facts and appreciate the nature of one's situation. Figure 4 presents data from the present study alongside data from the Grisso et al (2003) study in a way comparable to that used in Figure 3, that is, in terms of the proportion of individuals of different ages who performed at or above the mean level of the adults in the sample. The Grisso et al study included participants ages 11 to 24, drawn equally from the community and the justice system.…”

Legal Socialization of Children and Adolescents

“…Deficits in psychosocial maturity often are cited as indicia of reduced culpability when young people run afoul of the law (Scott and Steinberg, 2003) . In this framework, law and social rules are externalities to adolescent development.…”

“…Drawing from recent studies on children's behavior toward the law and legal actors, we assume that legal socialization is a critical part of adolescent development that shapes adolescents' attitudes and behaviors in a variety of legal tasks (Flanagan and Sherrod, 1998;Grisso, 2000;Grisso et al, 2003;Steinberg and Cauffman, 1996). This certainly is true among adults, where there is consistent evidence across in studies with diverse populations in a wide range of tasks and settings showing that both moral values and orientations toward legal authority-such as perceived legitimacy-shape two dimensions of adult behavior with respect to the law: compliance and cooperation (Tyler, 1990;Tyler and Huo, 2002).…”