What Is a Juvenile Transfer Evaluation?
Under certain circumstances, juveniles may be charged as adults. In these cases a psychological evaluation may be requested by the court, prosecution, or defense in order to help address questions that are relevant (e.g., amenability to treatment, supervision or rehabilitation, the child's mental capacity and maturity) for transferring the case from delinquency proceedings to the criminal justice system or vice-versa.
From its earliest years, the juvenile court exercised options for trying some cases involving youth in criminal court. The primary legal basis for transferring a youth from juvenile to criminal court was by the discretion of juvenile court judges. Beginning in the late 1980s, a majority of states created laws that increased the use of legal exclusion of juveniles from automatic filings of charges in criminal court by using certain restrictions regarding the age of the juvenile and the nature of the criminal charge.
Many states, however, retained the option of judicial transfer to adult criminal court for cases that did not meet the criteria for statutory exclusion. In addition, in many states, cases involving youth that were filed in criminal court could be remanded to juvenile court at the discretion of the criminal court judge, which is a process sometimes called a reverse transfer. Whether in juvenile court transfer proceedings or criminal court, the court's judgments about whether an individual youth ought to be transferred is often influenced by forensic clinical evaluations.
Completing clinical evaluations of juveniles considered for transfer to criminal court requires the specialized expertise of a forensic psychiatrist. Within each of the three major evaluation domains (amenability to treatment, risk for future violence, and maturity), there are three questions to ask:
1. Can a forensic psychiatrist properly assess this area, and if so using what tools?
2. How can social science research clarify the transfer evaluation?
3. How should the evaluation be structured? In doing so, it is necessary to review clinical suggestions for completing these evaluations and identify pertinent research directions.
Forensic psychiatrists conducting such assessments need to be competent in the area of juvenile development and delinquency, treatment interventions designed for adolescents, and family systems. An evaluation may include, but is not limited to, the following:
- A review of relevant records(e.g., academic records and criminal records)
- Background information and relevant history including social history, psychiatric history, medical history, academic achievement history, substance abuse history, and criminal offending history
- Clinical interview(s) of the defendant
- Collateral interview with a caregiver or family member
- Psychological testing (e.g., intellectual and personality assessment)
- Diagnostic impressions through interview with the defendant
- Summary and analysis of findings
- Determination of risk for re-offense
- Recommendations
In determining if a juvenile should be transferred, the court must consider whether the youth is a proper subject for juvenile court jurisdiction. The decision is focused on the youth's potential for future criminal behavior and the ability to rehabilitate in order to reduce that potential. The forensic psychiatrist can assess these risks.
As in so many instances in law, the forensic psychiatrist plays a key role in determining if a juvenile should be transferred to a criminal court. His or her evaluation may often override all other considerations in determining an outcome.
About the Author:
Stephen Kelly is a entrepreneur and freelance writer. Be sure to check out this Psychiatric Expert Witness website for more great articles like this one.
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