NCJ Number
192958
Date Published
2000
Length
32 pages
Annotation
This chapter describes and critiques the forensic assessment processes generated by the transfer of selected juveniles from juvenile court jurisdiction to adult criminal court.
Abstract
The first section of this chapter describes the scope and objectives of forensic evaluations for waiver of jurisdiction, including the process of clinical interpretation of the legal standards as well as the general nature of the evaluation task. The second section describes what is currently known about current practices among clinicians who perform these evaluations for courts and defense attorneys. The third and fourth sections provide a model for performing waiver-of-jurisdiction evaluations, and the fifth section provides concluding observations about the role and value of such evaluations. The author advises that this chapter's description of proper evaluations for waiver-of-jurisdiction cases is essentially his own perspective, given the absence of any data regarding either the accepted standard of practice for evaluating juveniles for transfer, as well as the paucity of information on clinicians' actual practices when performing these evaluations. The guidelines of the proposed model pertain to the assessment of a juvenile's danger to others and the assessment of amenability to rehabilitation. The chapter concludes that assessments for waiver-of-jurisdiction cases serve many purposes that are sufficiently important for policymakers to insist on and provide the resources for adequate evaluations and for clinicians to meet their obligations to do the job right. Part of the answer to better waiver evaluations lies with a national commitment to research. 56 references