Juvenile's Competance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Juvenile's Competance - Essay Example Overall, the sample size consisted of 927 adolescents in juvenile detention facilities and community settings who were compared to 466 young adults in jails and in the community. There were four sites selected also using the criteria mentioned above. Two evaluation methods, which have their own focus, were used in the study. To assess criminal defendant's abilities to participate in their defense, the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT12CA) was used. The instrument's items included Understanding, Reasoning and Appreciation where their answers are scored according to a set of criteria established by the authors of the instrument. Although the instrument has been successfully applied in determining the competency of adults to participate in their trial and is widely used by forensic mental health professionals, this was the first time it was used on youths. Since this is the case, we may very well speculate that the tool may produce flawed results. The second method was the MacArthur Judgment Evaluation (MacJEN) used to examine the existence and degree of judgment immaturity especially the potential relation between immaturity and choices that defendants make in the course of adjudication.