Youth on Trial: A Developmental Perspective on Juvenile Justice

Abstract

Summary: It is often said that a teen "old enough to do the crime is old enough to do the time," but are teens really mature and capable enough to participate fully and fairly in adult criminal court? In this book--the fruit of the MacArthur Foundation Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice--a wide range of leaders in developmental psychology and law combine their expertise to investigate the current limitations of our youth policy. The first part of the book establishes a developmental perspective on juvenile justice; the second and third parts then apply this perspective to issues of adolescents' capacities as trial defendants and questions of legal culpability. Underlying the entire work is the assumption that an enlightened juvenile justice system cannot ignore the developmental psychological realities of adolescence. Winner of the “Best Book” Award, Society for Research on Adolescence, 2002.