The developmental perspective on juvenile justice policy and practice

Abstract

This essay reviews the most important lessons in this chapter for judges, legal practitioners, and child advocates with respect to the application of developmental science to policy and practice in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. First, some widely accepted beliefs about the nature of development ultimately have been disproven by developmental science. There was a time not long ago, when it was commonly believed that no significant brain development takes place beyond age 18. Second, developmental science can give more specific answers to questions about where to draw certain age boundaries than is possible solely on the basis of common sense. On average, studies have shown that by the time they are 16, individuals possess adult cognitive capacity to engage in thoughtful decision‐making when they aren't under time pressure or emotionally aroused, but the capacity to be thoughtful when they are hurried, in situations that are affectively charged, or with other teenagers doesn't mature until 21 or later. Finally, science can help legal decision‐makers determine how much an adolescent's behavior was voluntary and how much it was not under their control.