Eileen P. Ryan

Developing a Forensic Service Delivery System for Juveniles Adjudicated Incompetent to Stand Trial

Our study examines the experiences of 563 youth ordered into restoration services after a judicial finding of adjudicative incompetence. Among this group, 72% were determined to be restored to competence usually within 90 to 120 days of services provided in the least restrictive environment allowed by the courts. These outcomes were achieved using an individualized psycho-educational intervention that combined intensive case management, developmentally informed interactive educational tools, and case integration and mentoring by specially trained restoration counselors. These individualized services were provided to each youth on average three times a week by the restoration counselor contracted to provide services in the location where the youth was residing. No juveniles were admitted for inpatient hospitalization for the purpose of restoration only. Five percent were hospitalized based upon civil commitment criteria or for further psychiatric evaluation or stabilization. Chi-square Automated Interaction Detector (CHAID) analyses were used to create decision trees of the restoration pathways demonstrated by four subgroups of youth: Mental Illness Only (MIO), Mental Retardation Only (MRO), Mental Illness and Mental Retardation (MI-MR), and No Mental Illness and No Mental Retardation (NMI-NMR). The interaction of individual characteristics and interventions varied across the four groups with the highest rates of restoration being achieved by youth in the NMI-NMR group (91%) and the lowest rate among youth in the MRO group (47%). These rates of restoration are comparable to those achieved using residential treatment for youth and inpatient hospitalization for adults.

Juvenile Sex Offenders

Sexual offending by juveniles accounts for a sizable percentage of sexual offenses, especially against young children. In this article, recent research on female juvenile sex offenders (JSOs), risk factors for offending in juveniles, treatment, and the ways in which these youth may differ from general delinquents will be reviewed. Most JSOs do not go on to develop paraphilic disorders or to commit sex offenses during adulthood, and as a group, they are more similar to nonsexual offending juvenile delinquents than to adult sex offenders. Recent research has elucidated some differences between youth who commit sex offenses and general delinquents in the areas of atypical sexual interests, the use of pornography, and early sexual victimization during childhood.

Competence to Stand Trial and Young Children: Is the Presumption of Competence Valid?

ABSTRACT The competence of juveniles to stand trial has received increasing scrutiny over the past two decades as the juvenile justice system has shifted from a rehabilitative focus to a model more resembling the adult criminal justice system. Although concerns about protecting the due process rights of juveniles often focus on adolescents facing transfer to the adult system, even those youth remaining in the juvenile system must meet competency standards in most states. Research reveals that developmental immaturity often leaves young children particularly vulnerable to the types of deficits related to incompetence to stand trial. However, although children are presumed to be incompetent in most legal contexts, competence to stand trial in juvenile court carries the same presumption of competence as exists in the adult criminal justice system. We describe the cases of two young (under age 12) children evaluated for competence in order to highlight some of the difficulties inherent in presuming competence among very young defendants.