toward developmentally appropriate juvenile court practice :

ModelsforChangeSystems Reform in Juvenile Justice

Toward Developmentally Appropriate Juvenile Court Practice:

A Juvenile Court Training Curriculum

by the National Juvenile Defender Center inpartnership with Juvenile Law Center


Module 1:

Adolescent Development


A Developmental Perspective on Juvenile Justice

• Adolescents Adults

• Describe and document differences

• Inform policy and practice


First, as any parent knows, and as the scientific and sociological studies… tend to confirm, a “lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility are found in youth more often than in adults. These qualities often result in impetuous and ill-considered actions and opinions.”…The second area of difference is that juveniles are more vulnerable or susceptible to negative influences and outside pressures, including peer pressure….The third broad difference is that the character of a juvenile is not as well-formed as that of an adult. The personality traits of juveniles are more transitory, less fixed.Source: Majority opinion, U.S. Supreme Court, Roper v. Simmons


Adolescent Development

Overview• Cognitive Development• Psychosocial Development• Brain Development• Moral Development• Identity • Disabilities• Understanding Adolescent Development in

Context


1.Possibilities

2.Abstraction

3.Thinking about thinking (metacognition)

4.Thinking in multiple dimensions


• Risk Perception– Value consequences

differently from adults

• Sensation Seeking– Need for novel and

complex experiences


• Present Oriented Thinking– Difficulty thinking about

the future and delaying gratification

• Peer Influences– More vulnerable to

peer pressure particularly in risky situations


• Ability to appraise risks and consequences

• Ability to act with prudence and after consideration

• Ability to resist peer pressure


The maturity gap


Psychosocial Development and Decision-Making

• How do psychosocial factors influence youth’s decision-making in this incident?– Risk Perception– Sensation Seeking– Peer Influence– Future orientation


How brain “maturation” is measured

• Density of Grey Matter– Neurons and neuronal connections

(synapses)

• Density and Patterning of White Matter– Myelin (fatty “insulation” around circuits)

• Two Important Processes– Synaptic Pruning– Myelination


What Does Research Say About Adolescent Brain Development• Helpful to think of two distinct sets of

brain systems relevant to adolescent behavior.

• Systems involve different regions of the brain and develop along different time tables.

• Socio-emotional system

• Cognitive control system


• Socioemotional System

• Cognitive Control System


The Socio-Emotional System• Responsible for processing emotions, social

information, reward and punishment

• Undergoes major changes in early adolescence that are related to hormonal changes.

• Changes in early adolescence result in:– Increased sensation-seeking – Increased/easier emotional arousal– Increased attentiveness to social

information


The Cognitive Control System• Responsible for deliberative thinking – weighing costs

and benefits, thinking ahead, regulating impulses• Develops gradually from preadolescence on, well into

the mid-20s• Changes result in

– More impulse control– Better emotion regulation – More foresight– More planning ahead– Better reasoning


What Does It All Mean?

• Adolescence is a time characterized by a socio-emotional system that is easily aroused and highly sensitive to social feedback

• Adolescence is a time characterized by a still-immature cognitive control systemAs a result, adolescents are – less able to control impulses– Less able to resist pressure from peers– Less likely to think ahead– More driven by the thrill of rewards


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What Does It Not Mean

• That adolescents do not know right from wrong

• That adolescents are the same as young children

• That adolescents should not be held responsible for their actions

• That all juvenile offenders are the same


Limitations of Brain Research• It can not substitute for an assessment of an

individual’s actual behavior• It can not tell us when individuals are still able to

change, or are still amenable to treatment• It does not change anything we already knew about

differences between the behavior of adolescents and adults

• The idea that biological evidence is more “real” than psychological evidence is naïve


Implications of Adolescent Development to Policy and Practice

• Developmental Concepts

– Cognitive maturation

– Psychosocial maturation

• Legal Concepts

– Competence

– Culpability• Mitigation

– Amenability



“12-year-old who could become America's youngest ever 'lifer' for killing two-year-old brother.”


Implications of Adolescent Development for Policy and Practice

• Legal Questions regarding: – Competence to Stand

Trial – Validity of Waiver of

Miranda– Interrogation and

False Confessions



• Transfer and Sentencing in Adult Court– Culpability

“12-year-old who could become America's youngest ever 'lifer' for killing two-year-old brother.”


Implications of Adolescent Development for Policy and Practice

• Amenability to treatment– Youth still developing—who they are is not

necessarily who they will become– Desistance– Sanctions should hold youth responsible, but

not “arrest development”.


For more information

or to request training based on the Curriculum please contact:

National Juvenile Defender Center

1350 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 304

Washington, DC 20036

Phone: 202-452-0010

Fax: 202-452-1205

www.njdc.info

[email protected]

Toward Developmentally Appropriate Juvenile Court

Practice: A Juvenile Court Training

Curriculum

toward developmentally appropriate juvenile court practice :

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