The role of translational psychological science in juvenile justice reform.

Abstract

This editorial begins with an historical review of U.S. juvenile justice system reforms that have been influenced by psychological science. We then use a T-phase lab-to-legal system model to classify translational psychological research relevant to juvenile justice and illustrate how translational developmental research is guiding reforms in this field. We conclude by describing how the articles in this Special Issue serve as examples of various points within the modified T-phase model and contribute to the ongoing role of psychological science as a driver of change within juvenile justice systems.

The developmental reform in juvenile justice: Its progress and vulnerability.

“…Such policies are numerous in Psychology and Law, typically taking form when science firmly supports public policy change that is consistent with human rights. When an area of psychological science progresses to the point that it can support policy change, it often transitions to a translational-science phase to promote implementation in law, public policies, and the practices of social institutions (Grisso et al, 2019). Assessing threats to those initiatives is not itself a scientific enterprise.…”

How the construct of metacognition has contributed to translational research in education, mental health, and beyond.

“…All articles published in Translational Issues in Psychological Science ( TPS ) must address translational aspects of the work, but “ambiguity remains as to the definition of translational research, what qualifies as translational, and where the translational chain should begin” (Guerra, Graham, & Tolan, 2011, p. 9). A recent editorial in a TPS issue on juvenile justice adopted a multiphase translational model based on the kind of work needed to move basic science to practice (Grisso, Fountain, NeMoyer, & Thornton, 2019). We realized that such a T-Phase model can also be used to characterize the translation of metacognitive research to real-world applications.…”

Closing the gap in research training: The first years of Translational issues in psychological science.

“…The goal may be to improve communities or people's health, well-being, or quality of life; to develop best practices; to enhance research methods; or improve training. To highlight the types and continuum of translational research, the editorial team for the TPS issue on psychological science and juvenile justice helpfully explained how the different phases of translational research (T0 -T4) apply to research in juvenile justice and then described how the articles in that issue are examples of those different phases (Grisso et al, 2019). The juvenile justice system was just one setting that was the focus of TPS.…”

“…Perhaps the value of translational research was most apparent when trying to understand and intervene with current, high-profile issues that are concerning our country and the world. These include concerns about our legal and justice systems (Edkins et al, 2017; Grisso et al, 2019), the elderly (Boomhower et al, 2017), health disparities (Tucker et al, 2019), immigrants and refugees (Okazaki et al, 2019), and economic (Bullock et al, 2018) and political issues (Conway et al, 2017), as well as the devastating impacts of prejudice, discrimination (Monteith et al, 2015), and minority status (Grzanka et al, 2020). Psychological science has much to contribute to the discussions of, and interventions with, these issues.…”