Newswise — Are juveniles as culpable for their crimes as adults?
Should factors such as susceptibility to the influence of others be taken into account when judging adolescents' criminal behavior?
In light of what we understand about adolescent psychological and brain development, is the death penalty for juveniles cruel and unusual punishment?
As the trial of accused teen Washington D.C.-area sniper Lee Malvo begins, these issues will be at the forefront of national focus--and debate--over the next few weeks.
That's exactly where they need to be, says Temple University psychologist Laurence Steinberg, director of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice.
"The central issue in this trial will be whether an adolescent's immaturity mitigates his criminal blameworthiness. Historically, we have reserved the death penalty for those who are judged fully responsible for their criminal acts. Is a 17-year-old who is under the influence of an adult fully responsible for what he does? That is what the jury will be struggling with," says Steinberg, the Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at Temple and an expert in adolescent psychological and social development.
Composed of a small group of nationally recognized social scientists, legal scholars, and legal practitioners, the MacArthur Network is conducting extensive research on juvenile offenders' criminal culpability, competence to stand trial as adults, and amenability to treatment. The network is dedicated to bringing an informed and scientific understanding to many complex issues concerning adolescent development, juvenile crime and delinquency, and the treatment of young people within the justice system.
"One question our group is studying is whether adolescents, because of their psychological immaturity, are inherently more vulnerable to pressure from others to behave in ways they know are wrong. This issue will figure prominently in the trial. The defense will contend that the nature of the relationship between Lee Malvo and his father-figure made the teenager especially susceptible to the older man's coercion. It will be fascinating to see how persuasive this argument will be to the jury," adds Steinberg, who has written extensively on the ways in which our understanding of normal adolescent development should inform how we treat juveniles in the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
In addition to Steinberg, members of the network are available for interviews on a variety of issues raised by Malvo's trial, including the appropriateness of the juvenile death penalty. Among those available to comment are:
Criminologist Jeffrey Fagan of Columbia University, whose research examines the jurisprudence and punishment of adolescent crimes, the different correlates and consequences of trying adolescents as juveniles versus trying them as adults, and the juvenile death penalty; Clinical psychologist Thomas Grisso of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, whose research focuses on the application of psychology to legal issues, especially in criminal and juvenile law and policy, and the competence of juveniles to stand trial;
Law professor Elizabeth J. Scott of the University of Virginia, whose research examines issues of adolescent decision-making in legal contexts, the criminal culpability of children, and family law;
Psychologist Jennifer Woolard of Georgetown University, whose research focuses on adolescent development in context and violence prevention, and adolescent competence to stand trial/legal decision-making;
Law professor Franklin Zimring of the University of California, Berkeley, whose research examines juvenile violence, legal policy toward adolescence, and the regulation of risky behavior;
Law and psychiatry professor Elizabeth Cauffman of the University of Pittsburgh, whose research is in the area of applied developmental psychology, focusing on normative and atypical development in adolescence, and adolescent development in the context of juvenile justice policy; and
Attorney Robert Schwartz, co-founder of the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, who has represented dependent and delinquent children in Pennsylvania juvenile and appellate courts, and brought litigation over institutional conditions and probation functions.
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