Juvenile Offenders
Juvenile offenders may require evaluation for many of the same reasons as adults. Competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility evaluations, sex offender risk evaluations, and dispositional (i.e., treatment need) evaluations are among the most common. Juvenile transfer waiver evaluations focus upon factors relevant to legal decisions as to whether a juvenile should be tried as an adult.
Competency to stand trial is a particularly cogent issue for juvenile offenders, and our experience is that it may not be raised as often as it should. In a comprehensive study of age and juvenile competency to stand trial, Grisso et al. (2003) found that roughly a third of subjects ages 11 to 13 and a fifth of subjects ages 14 to 15 showed competency to stand trial deficits similar to those of adults who had been found incompetent to stand trial in criminal court. Age, intelligence, learning and academic functioning, and mental health problems all correlate with incompetency to stand trial in juveniles.
Competency to stand trial is a particularly cogent issue for juvenile offenders, and our experience is that it may not be raised as often as it should. In a comprehensive study of age and juvenile competency to stand trial, Grisso et al. (2003) found that roughly a third of subjects ages 11 to 13 and a fifth of subjects ages 14 to 15 showed competency to stand trial deficits similar to those of adults who had been found incompetent to stand trial in criminal court. Age, intelligence, learning and academic functioning, and mental health problems all correlate with incompetency to stand trial in juveniles.