Juvenile Offenders' Ability to Understand Their Legal Essay

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juvenile offenders' ability to understand their legal rights and one issue related to their ability to participate effectively in their own defense.

Ability to understand legal rights: Competency

Ability to participate effectively in their own defense: Treating juveniles differently

According to U.S. criminal law, part of the right to counsel includes the notion that a defendant must be able to participate in his or her defense (Sandborn 2009: 137). However, schizophrenics, persons with low IQ, and many other individuals who might seem otherwise unable to discern right from wrong have been found competent to assist in their own defense, even persons later found to be insane. The question of juvenile competency is particularly vexing given that juveniles have an innately 'different' status under the law. The focus of the juvenile justice system is rehabilitation, and to a lesser extent, restitution, while the focus of the adult justice system is usually equal amounts retribution, rehabilitation, and restitution, and for some crimes there is a greater emphasis placed upon retribution.

One of the most important questions is if competence should be determined in juvenile or adult terms. The states have contradictory policies on this matter. For example, Arkansas law has found that defendants younger than age thirteen must be found capable of future-oriented thinking, logical decision, and able to evaluate the implications of moral behavior. Michigan and Iowa evaluate juvenile competency based upon juvenile rather than adult norms, which raises the question -- why are juveniles held to a lesser standard of competency than adults (Sandborn 2009: 141)? Almost by definition, a juvenile is less competent than an adult.

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This is why juveniles are treated differently than adults within the court system. Is a 'competent' juvenile really so competent after all?

Although it is claimed by Sandborn (2009) that little difference exists between juvenile perceptions of the legal system and adults because juveniles are able to understand concepts of 'judge' and 'jury,' this seems to ignore mounting scientific evidence that juvenile risk-taking and appreciation of consequences is biologically less acute than that of adults (Sandborn 2009: 157). However, even if teens are seen as generally less competent than adults, the question remains if competency should be conceptualized as a continuum in the justice system, or if there should be a fundamentally different test of competency for both youth and adults, given that youths already have additional protections within the juvenile justice system thanks to its rehabilitative focus.

This notion of treating juveniles differently, but not more leniently than adults, is also reflected in the creation of youth courts, which try juveniles via a jury of their peers rather a trial by judge or an adult jury (Peterson n.d.). While this sounds innovative and interesting (it assumes that there may….....

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