1. Toward Developmentally Appropriate Juvenile Court Practice:
A Juvenile Court Training Curriculum
by the National Juvenile Defender Center in
partnership with Juvenile Law Center

2. Adolescent Development
Module 1:
Adolescent Development

3. A Developmental Perspective on Juvenile Justice
Adolescents Adults
Describe and document differences
Inform policy and practice

4. First, as any parent knows, and as the scientific and sociological studies… tend to confirm, a “lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility are found in youth more often than in adults. These qualities often result in impetuous and ill-considered actions and opinions.”…The second area of difference is that juveniles are more vulnerable or susceptible to negative influences and outside pressures, including peer pressure….The third broad difference is that the character of a juvenile is not as well-formed as that of an adult. The personality traits of juveniles are more transitory, less fixed.
Source: Majority opinion, U.S. Supreme Court, Roper v. Simmons
The following is a quote from Roper v. Simmons.
It reflects a concerted effort on the part of advocates
and researchers to highlight the importance of a developmental perspective on a crucial juvenile justice issue-- when assessing the appropriateness of sentencing adolescents to death.
First prong: speaks to impulsivity, inability to forsee consequences.

5. Adolescent Development
Overview
Cognitive Development
Psychosocial Development
Brain Development
Moral Development
Identity
Disabilities
Understanding Adolescent Development in Context
Topics in adolescent development range from ….
Today’s focus will primarily be on the first 3 with a particular emphasis on psychosocial development

6. Major Cognitive Changes in Adolescence
Possibilities
Abstraction
Thinking about thinking (metacognition)
Thinking in multiple dimensions
Thinking about what is possible, not just what is real—
able to start thinking about alternative possibilities and explanations
Able to start thinking hypothetically (ex. Sister comes home late from work—genate posible explaanations for her tardiness e. g. flat tire)
2. Thinking about abstract concepts
Children’s thinking restricted to more observable events and concrete objects---things they can see hear and touch
Adolescents began to recognize certain concepts are intangible and can’t be quantified.
Example: teens recognize that being religious depends on what one believes, not just what one does.
3.Appreciation of logic and the process of thinking
Increase in introspection, self-consciousness and intellectualization
4.Thinking simultaneously about multiple facets of a problem and weighing them before taking action
Increase capacitiy to approach a problem with more sophisticated lense
Adol. Develop an understanding of sacasm, cuz able to think about the literal meaning and the context in which words are spoken
5. Increasing ability to see things in relative, rather than absolute terms
Child of a father who smoke may oppose smoking because father saiys its bad, wheras when child becomes an adoescent she may piont out the inconsistencies between her father’s instructions andhis behaivor.

7. Psychosocial Influences on Cognition
Risk Perception
Value consequences differently from adults
Sensation Seeking
Need for novel and complex experiences
Although adolescents are developing new cognitive abilities, they do not use these abilities consistently over time or over a variety of situations
Behavior, of course, is not solely the product of abstract cognitive abilities and includes things like:
(Define psychosocial)
As compared to adults, adolescents risk taking differ:
Adol. May differ in decision making related to risks in that they value various consequences differently
Or don’t consider all the consequences.
Perceive themselves as invulnerable
Heavily influenced by the presence of peers
Cour involved youth, may seem bright and responsible, still engage in unlawful and irresponsible behavior.
Find out about external factors that may have influenced his decision making (peer pressure, impairment due to substance abuse)
Sensation Seeking (the need/desire for varied and novel sensations and experiences) related to risk taking
Adolescents value new experiences more than adults, may engage in risky behaivor even though they know consequences might be dangerous
Adults “I have so much to loose” Teen “There are so many exciting new experiences to have)
Court involved youth may experiment with different drugs haveunprotected sex with multiple partners—though illegal or inadvisable, these behaviors may stem from sensation seeking that get’s out of control. ;

8. Psychosocial Influences on Cognition
Present Oriented Thinking
Difficulty thinking about the future and delaying gratification
Peer Influences
More vulnerable to peer pressure particularly in risky situations

9. Psychosocial (Im)maturity and Decision-Making
Ability to appraise risks and consequences
Ability to act with prudence and after consideration
Ability to resist peer pressure
We may think of decision-making as a byproduct of our rational thought processes, however, psychosocial development plays an important role. Particularly in adoelscents when psychosocial capacities are still developing.
Various factors can undermine adolescent decision making:
Stress and Fear
Learning Difficulties
Previous Victimization
Can conclude with summarizing key concepts in Cognitive development:
teens develop the capactity to think in more complex ways.
However, this develops at different rates for different teens.
Often psychsocial and external factors compromise adoelscennts’ ability to think rationally. 9

10. The maturity gap
Blue line shows development of logical reasoning and intellectual ability which plateaus at about abe15 or 16.
Psychosocial capacities, (which may have a neurobiological basis) suchas impulse control, future orientation, or resistance to peer influence continues to develop into young adulthood.
What this research does not say is that adolescents do not know right from wrong.
Adol. Are not the same as children
That they should not be held accountable for their actions
That all juveniles are the same.

11. Psychosocial Development and Decision-Making
How do psychosocial factors influence youth’s decision-making in this incident?
Risk Perception
Sensation Seeking
Peer Influence
Future orientation

12. Rapid advancement of imaging technology in recent years has revealed much new information about the adolescent brain.
Imaging technology provides information about two different aspects : structure and funtion.
Structure refers to actual physical makeup of the brain, its size, shape and location of its many components.
Brain function refres to physical processes which areas of the brain are working during different activitesi such as thinking, problem solving or physical movement.

13. How brain “maturation” is measured
Density of Grey Matter
Neurons and neuronal connections (synapses)
Density and Patterning of White Matter
Myelin (fatty “insulation” around circuits)
Two Important Processes
Synaptic Pruning
Myelination
The parts of brain that change the most during maturation in adoelscence are brain tissue and the frontal lobes.
IN terms of structure as teens progress thru adolescence the Gray matter (made of of neurons and neuronal connection) decreases.
However, the density and patterning of white matter grows during adoelscence and is associated with brain maturation.
Two processes that are related to the decrease of Grey matter and increase of white matter are
Synatic pruning: Process by which neural connections in gray matter that are used more frequenly become strengthened, while weaker neural connections die off. “Use it or loose it” whether or not kids use of lose these neural connections may impact development.
Myleniation: Is related to the growth of white matter. It’s the process by which axons in the brain are coated with mylin or white matter, which increases the speed and efficiency of “communication in the brain. Continues througout adolescence and into adulthood.

14. What Does Research Say About Adolescent Brain Development
Helpful to think of two distinct sets of brain systems relevant to adolescent behavior.
Systems involve different regions of the brain and develop along different time tables.
Socio-emotional system
Cognitive control system
Helpful to think of two distinct sets of brain systems relevant to adoelscent behavior
S different regions of the brain and mature along different timetables.

15. Socioemotional System
Cognitive Control System

16. The Socio-Emotional System
Responsible for processing emotions, social information, reward and punishment
Undergoes major changes in early adolescence that are related to hormonal changes.
Changes in early adolescence result in:
Increased sensation-seeking
Increased/easier emotional arousal
Increased attentiveness to social information
Undergoes major changes in early adoelscence that are related to hormonal changes

17. The Cognitive Control System
Responsible for deliberative thinking – weighing costs and benefits, thinking ahead, regulating impulses
Develops gradually from preadolescence on, well into the mid-20s
Changes result in
More impulse control
Better emotion regulation
More foresight
More planning ahead
Better reasoning

18. What Does It All Mean?
Adolescence is a time characterized by a socio-emotional system that is easily aroused and highly sensitive to social feedback
Adolescence is a time characterized by a still-immature cognitive control system
As a result, adolescents are
less able to control impulses
Less able to resist pressure from peers
Less likely to think ahead
More driven by the thrill of rewards
The neuroscience is converging with 30 years of behavioral research to provide evidence of this perception of adolescence as a specific stage of development in which youth have different capacities from adults.
Important to recognize that the brain research is correlational and does not imply causation. Parts of the brain light up when youth engage in certain behaviors, but this is an association and does not necessarily mean that the brain causes specific behaviors.

19. What Does It Not Mean That adolescents do not know right from wrong
That adolescents are the same as young children
That adolescents should not be held responsible for their actions
That all juvenile offenders are the same

20. Limitations of Brain Research
It can not substitute for an assessment of an individual’s actual behavior
It can not tell us when individuals are still able to change, or are still amenable to treatment
It does not change anything we already knew about differences between the behavior of adolescents and adults
The idea that biological evidence is more “real” than psychological evidence is naïve
Among certain advocates, the brain research appears to have carrried more weight in these discussions of adolescent development. Pictures of brain and colors ligthing up make people think the differences are more “real” because this is “hard science”. Granted, the work is important in that it helps us understand biological bases of differences between adolescents and adults. Important to recognize the limitations.
End with this: Still only a few studies that look at developmental changes in brain function, as opposed to structure in adolescen.
Conclusions about the links between changes in cognitive performance and changes in brain structure during adolescence are suggestive, rather than conclusive. A causal relationship has not been established.

21. Implications of Adolescent Development to Policy and Practice
Developmental Concepts
Cognitive maturation
Psychosocial maturation
Legal Concepts
Competence
Culpability
Mitigation
Amenability
These concepts map onto important legal concepts that have significant policy and practice implications.
…..

22. Implications of Adolescent Development to Policy and Practice
Arguments used in Roper and Graham
Immaturity should be considered a mitigating factor when we judge criminal responsibility, even among older adolescents.
Sentencing: Developmental implications for youth in adult corrections environments:
Safety and Management of youth in adult facilities
Treatment and programming for youth
Developmental impact
“12-year-old who could become America's youngest ever 'lifer' for killing two-year-old brother.”

23. Implications of Adolescent Development for Policy and Practice
Legal Questions regarding:
Competence to Stand Trial
Validity of Waiver of Miranda
Interrogation and False Confessions
Psychosocial immaturity influences how we think about these legal questions.
Also, cognitive maturity is important—younger youth may not comprehend Miranda, or the implications of confessing during an interrogation, or understand court procedures enough to assist in their defense.
Research does tell us that youth who are below age 15 are more compromised in their ability to comprehend Miranda warnings and/or the elements that are important to understand for competence to stand trial.
Insure that individuals under 16 are CST and that they understand their Miranda rights before they wave them. For older youth, be aware of developmental or learning disabilities that may impede ability to comprehend their rights.
Implement safeguards to protect youth from coercive envirnoment of interrogation. Psychosocial immaturity as well as other issues make youth particiularly vulnerable to coercive interrogation tactics, as well impede their ability to voluntarily wave miranda rights.

24. Implications of Adolescent Development to Policy and Practice
Transfer and Sentencing in Adult Court
Culpability
Arguments used in Roper and Graham
Immaturity should be considered a mitigating factor when we judge criminal responsibility, even among older adolescents.
Sentencing: Developmental implications for youth in adult corrections environments:
Safety and Management of youth in adult facilities
Treatment and programming for youth
Developmental impact
“12-year-old who could become America's youngest ever 'lifer' for killing two-year-old brother.”

25. Implications of Adolescent Development for Policy and Practice
Amenability to treatment
Youth still developing—who they are is not necessarily who they will become
Desistance
Sanctions should hold youth responsible, but not “arrest development”.
Youth still developing: the ideas that have been pulled from the research suggest this.
But other areas of developmental research can support this argument.
Desistance: We know that youth will almost always grow into mature, law-abiding adults. What is the best way to insure this desistance occurs and how can juvenile justice interventions facilitate this process instead of impede it. (concern that sometimes juvenile justice interventions can be iatrogenic.
Sanctions: De-incarceration is a topic you’ll be discussing. Though there is very little research that has been directly applied to this issue of the harms of incarceration for youth. We can certainly extrapolate from some of the research that we do have. It’s possible that incarceration may have a negative impact on youth and impede their ability to accomplish important developmental goals that facilitate a healthy transition into a self-sufficient adult.

26. Toward Developmentally Appropriate Juvenile Court Practice:
A Juvenile Court Training Curriculum
For more information
or to request training based on the Curriculum please contact:
National Juvenile Defender Center
1350 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 304
Washington, DC 20036
Phone:
Fax: