Adolescent Legal Competence in Court

Adolescent Legal Competence in Court
Posted by: Acumenical on Thu, 26 Jun 08 03:07:50 +0000
This is important research for exactly the reasons stated by the authors: as the courts, both juvenile and adult, see increasingly younger defendants some argue that the law should also take into account adolescents’ lesser capacities owing to emotional and psychological immaturity.

So why am I struggling to find the date that this research was conducted? A tiny-print footnote tells me The tool is called the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool—Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT-CA). For more information, see T. Grisso et al., “Juveniles’ Competence to Stand Trial: A Comparison of Adolescents’ and Adults’ Capacities as Trial Defendants,” Law and Human Behavior, vol. 27 (2003), pp. 333-363. Come on! Let's put the date and the researchers' information -- also at the end -- at the beginning of the report!

It seems that the research done was competent. The fact that interviews were done in different states is important. I would like to know more about the demographics of the interviewees. The phrase, "using a standard assessment tool" is annoyingly oversimplified at best.

This is an interesting report with lots of numbers and charts. Let's see it written up in a fashion that will win it more respect.