Juveniles' understanding of trial-related information: are they competent defendants?

Guilty pleas of youths and adults: Differences in legal knowledge and decision making.

“…We had two aims: quantify any differences in understanding and decision making between youth and adults who were convicted by guilty plea and provide contextual information about these differences that might ultimately help practitioners (attorneys or clinicians) who work with system-involved youth. Our results are generally in line with existing research on adolescent legal capacities, which has consistently shown youth to perform more poorly than adults on measures of legal understanding and decisional competency (e.g., Cooper, 1997; Grisso, 1981; Viljoen & Roesch, 2005). We also identified some similarities between the youth and adults, not only in terms of adequate performance but also in deficiencies, suggesting, as others have argued, that comprehension for at least some aspects of the plea process may be low among defendants, in general (e.g., Redlich & Summers, 2012).…”

The Competence-Related Abilities of Adolescent Defendants in Criminal Court.

“…Recognition of immaturity as a legitimate basis for adolescents' impaired competence-related abilities is consistent with concerns expressed by developmental psychologists that some adolescents may have impaired functional capacities in a legal context due to immature judgment and decision making (e.g., Cauffman, Woolard, & Reppucci, 1999;Grisso, 1997;Steinberg & Cauffman, 1996; see generally, Grisso & Schwartz, 2000). It is also consistent with the growing number of studies reporting age-related differences in juveniles' competence-related abilities (e.g., Cooper, 1997;Grisso et al, 2003;Warren, Aaron, Ryan, Chauhan, & DuVal, 2003).…”

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

“…Differences between adolescents and adults are not only cognitive, but also involve aspects of psychosocial maturation that include progress toward greater future orientation, better risk perception, and less susceptibility to peer influence. Several authors have hypothesized that these developmental factors could result in differences between adolescents' and adults' decisionmaking about important rights in the adjudicative process (Cauffman & Steinberg, 2000;Scott, 1992;Scott, Reppucci, & Woolard, 1995;Steinberg & Cauffman, 1996).…”