Psychology and juvenile justice: Human development, law, science, and practice.

Abstract

Psychology has an extensive history of contributions to the juvenile justice system. From the establishment of the first juvenile court in Chicago in 1899 to the assessment of and interventions with adolescents charged as juveniles, from research on developmental differences to that on patterns of juvenile delinquency, the field of psychology has a strong presence in advancing knowledge and promoting informed decision making in juvenile justice. Psychological research has identified important ways in which adolescents differ from adults, with significant implications for policy and practice, and has illustrated how risk factors and criminogenic needs can be applied to the prevention of offending, the diversion of less serious offenders, and the rehabilitation of more serious offenders. A psycholegal analysis of a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions has shown that such research has substantially influenced the Court’s thinking in making decisions regarding the death penalty and other sentencing options for adolescents convicted as adults (see Chapter 2, this handbook). Such an analysis of law is important in this handbook. But there are actually seven domains that will be considered in this broad area. In the present chapter, we offer an overview of these seven domains to prime the reader for the more detailed discussions in each of the chapters that follow. As noted in the introduction to the handbook, the domains comprise law, human development, patterns of offending, risk factors for offending, forensic assessment, interventions and costs, and training and ethics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)