Fitness for juvenile court: The opinions of psychologists

Juveniles are referred to adult court increasingly due to changes in legislation and higher levels of violent crime. Factors such as perceived criminal sophistication and previous attempts at rehabilitation are considered, but are not always assessed when making fitness evaluations. This study examined psychologists' opinions in juvenile fitness or adult transfer in juvenile offenders. A sample of 231 participants each responded to one of eight randomly distributed vignettes through an online survey system. The vignettes described a crime (murder, first degree vs. robbery/ firearm), the juvenile's age (13 vs. 16), and the youth's IQ score of 70 vs. 100. Participants determined fitness placement for the juvenile as either juvenile disposition or adult transfer. This study employed a binary logistics regression to determine if the higher-order and main effects of a defendant's IQ level, age, and type of crime committed were related to juvenile fitness decisions. Results showed significant differences for all independent variables as predictors of fitness decisions in favor of juvenile dispositions for all but youth with IQ scores of 100, age of 16 years, and crime of robbery. No two-way or higher order interactions were significant, suggesting that the interaction model was not a good fit for the predictor variables. Chi square analyses demonstrated strength of association between predictor variables and fitness decisions. Secondary analyses were performed on sureness of decision and perceived youth culpability via ANOVA and showed significant results. Results were discussed in the context of fitness criteria, and relevant and existing literature.