A Juvenile Probation Officer has asked you to do a forensic assessment of two juveniles and whether each juvenile should be tried in a juvenile hearing (court) or tried as an adult. The probation officer also wants feedback of what type of justice (restorative and/or retributive) would best treat/correct/habilitate this juvenile.
Juvenile #1 (John Smith)– John is a 14-year-old boy who was waiting for his opportunity to abduct, rape, and kill this 10-year-old girl while she was jogging in this one secluded park when no one else was in that park this one cloudy afternoon. He seemed to show no remorse when caught by police officers. A case similar to this happened in Wisconsin within the past several months. In Wisconsin, a 10-year-old can be tried in an adult court for intentional first-degree murder according to the media.
Juvenile #2 (Jane Doe)– Jane is a very bright 13-year-old female who gets straight-A’s in school. She is constantly being bullied at school and on the internet by these three 15-year-old boys at the same junior high school who come from very affluent and influential families in the community. Jane has told the principal numerous times about the constant harassment and cyberbullying but nothing seems to be done about it because of their affluent parents and the money they donate to the school and community. Jane just can’t take it anymore so she managed to get a gun from her father’s gun collection and brings it to school in her backpack. She was hoping to threaten them to back off. They came towards her while laughing at her and the gun went off again and again killing the three boys plus a school teacher who was trying to intervene. The parents of the three boys are demanding the maximum form of justice and retribution against this girl.
What forensic assessment tools would you use for each of these two juveniles?
How would you conduct the clinical interview after looking at the assessment scores?
What recommendations would you give the juvenile probation officer for each of these two juveniles? You can be creative or imaginative in how they scored on the assessment tools and their responses to your clinical questions.
