(YLS/CMI), and the Risk-Sophistication-Treatment
Inventory (RSTI) are all measures that could be used
to examine youths and provide information that is rel-
evant to the courts regarding youths who are being
evaluated by the courts. In addition to these mea-
sures, Thomas Grisso also provides a structure for the
evaluations that might be used. While the aforemen-
tioned measures provide structure to the evaluation
process, they do not supplant the need for extensive
knowledge about adolescent development and the
need to keep abreast of the current literatures on
transfer, risk of violence in youth, maturity, and treat-
ment amenability.
The role of psychology in the waiver of youths has
been substantial for two primary reasons. First, psy-
chologists are able to provide relevant psychological
information on youths that allows for the individual
assessment of youths rather than automatic or direct
file procedures that do not consider individual differ-
ences. In addition, psychologists’ reports and testi-
mony provide an opportunity not only to describe the
youths but also to determine and delineate what needs
to change.
Second, the role of psychology has been to aid in
the eventual development of policy. Research and
scholarly papers thus far have suggested that one way
to improve transfer evaluations is to have the evalua-
tions conducted frequently. At present, single-point
predictions are limited because they capture the youth
at one moment in time but do not incorporate future
data. This may not be particularly helpful as the youth
grows. Thus, the concepts of youth violence preven-
tion, management, and treatment need to be infused
into contemporary thinking on juvenile evaluations by
juvenile and adult court decision makers. This con-
ceptual development suggests the need for identify-
ing, measuring, and monitoring changeable risk and
readiness for treatment factors in youth because these
factors are the most promising targets for reducing
problem behavior in youth. Maturity and amenability
are two concepts that are changeable and may affect
the potential for problem behavior in youth over time,
but single-point predictions do not allow for the devel-
opment of these concepts over time. One such policy
change might be to adopt the blended sentence option
more frequently so that youths can be monitored over
longer periods of time before making an ultimate
decision about transfer.Randall T. Salekin, Christie A. Ledbetter,
Nicole M. Johnson, and Jessica MorganSee alsoConduct Disorder; Juvenile Offenders;
Risk-Sophistication-Treatment Inventory (RSTI)Further Readings
Brannen, D. N., Salekin, R. T., Zapf, P. A., Salekin, K. L.,
Kubak, F. A., & DeCoster, J. (2006). Transfer of youth to
adult courts: A national study of how juvenile court
judges weigh pertinent Kentfactors. Psychology, Public
Policy, and Law, 12,332–355.
Kent v. United States, 383 U.S. 541 (1966).
Salekin, R. T. (2002). Juvenile waiver to adult court: How
can developmental and child psychology inform policy
decision making. In B. Bottoms, M. B. Kovera, &
B. McAuliff (Eds.),Children and the law: Social science
and U.S. law(pp. 203–232). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
Salekin, R. T., Yff, R. M. A., Neumann, C. S., Leistico,
A. R., & Zalot, A. A. (2002). Juvenile transfer to adult
courts: A look at the prototypes for dangerousness,
sophistication-maturity, and amenability to treatment
through a legal lens. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law,
8,373–410.
Snyder, H. N., & Sickmund, M. (2006). Juvenile offenders
and victims: 2006 national report.Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.WEAPONFOCUS
The weapon focus effect is the tendency for witnesses
who observe an armed criminal to direct their attention
toward the weapon so that they fail to encode and
remember information about the perpetrator’s physical
appearance as accurately as they would have if no
weapon had been visible. This effect can have impor-
tant consequences for the investigation of a crime, as
the police often rely on witnesses’ descriptions of a per-
petrator as they attempt to identify a suspect.
In lab experiments investigating weapon focus,
researchers typically expose participant-witnesses to
slide sequences, videos, or live enactments in which a
target person holds a weapon (in the experimental con-
dition) or a neutral object (in the control condition),
although sometimes in the control condition the target
is empty-handed. Several kinds of weapons have pro-
duced the effect, including a handgun, carving knife,
switchblade knife, meat cleaver, liquor bottle, and
syringe. Usually witnesses’ performance in a condition862 ———Weapon FocusW-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:44 PM Page 862