Juvenile Forensics
OVERVIEW
The role of psychology in the juvenile justice system brings a different set of press-
ing and complicated issues to the forensic field than its adult counterpart. As vari-
ous and recent media accounts depict, adolescent behavior can be no less gruesome
and shocking than conduct committed by career criminals. The domain of juvenile
forensic psychology examines the conduct of children and explains why they act
deviantly and break the law. Although there are many more questions about adoles-
cent (mis-)behavior than there are answers to date, the psychological sciences can
help the court system make sense out of what juveniles do and why.
There are four controversies investigated in this chapter. These topics include
(1) defining the age of criminal responsibility; (2) juveniles and the reliability
of their courtroom testimony; (3) the "best interest of the child" doctrine; and
(4) sentencing: the psychology of juvenile rehabilitation. Certainly, many other
contested subjects exist in the legal domain of juvenile forensics; however, these
four issues represent key areas of considerable debate within the law and psychology
communities. In addition, the tour issues explored in this chapter demonstrate where
and how forensic psychological experts are called upon to assist the court system
from the pretrial adjudication phase to the postconviction stage of a particular case.
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