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Competence and Judgment in Serious Juvenile Offenders--Part II: Implications of Psychopathology for Juvenile Competence

NCJ Number
181882
Author(s)
Janet I. Warren; Frances Lexcen
Date Published
1999
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This study sought to determine the demographic predictors of adult competence in adolescent psychiatric inpatients, the demographic predictors of noncontextual judgment factors in adolescent psychiatric inpatients, and the factors that contribute to the outcomes of legally relevant decision making among adolescent psychiatric inpatients.
Abstract
The subjects were 60 adolescent male psychiatric inpatients recruited from a local State hospital. Subjects were divided into diagnostic categories. Initial analyses of the data were conducted to provide descriptions of the data by diagnostic category. The second set of analyses investigated the relationships between measures of adult competence, specifically, the MacCAT subscales of Understanding, Reasoning, and Appreciation, as well as demographic variables. The third set of analyses examined the relationships between noncontextual factors of judgment and demographic characteristics; and the fourth set of analyses examined the relationship between decision outcomes from the JATA and demographics. The final set of analyses examined the decision outcomes of the JATA, given subject demographics, noncontextual judgment factors, and adult competence subscales. The results confirm that relationships exist between intelligence, maturity, and adult competence even among adolescent psychiatric inpatients. The study concludes that adolescents who become involved with the juvenile justice system and who carry a diagnosis may be at additional risk of compromised competence, but this possibility has not been thoroughly explored by empirical design. 10 tables and 13 references