Juvenile Assessment & Fit for Duty Exams – Issues in Forensic Psychology

A description of one issue related to forensic assessment of juvenile sex offenders and one issue related to forensic assessment of individuals being evaluated for fitness for duty. Explain why the issues you selected are issues for forensic psychology professionals conducting forensic assessments, using specific examples. Also describe the impact that each of these issues might have on individuals and/or society, again using specific examples.
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Juvenile Offenders

Juvenile offenders, also referred to as ‘young offenders/delinquents’ are those who are under 18 or who are 18 but remain in the under 18 estate (i.e. placed in homes and corrective institutions for one cause of another) who have, or are participating in youth crime and illegal behavior. In the US, young offenders/delinquents have even been adjudged as such because of the actions that they have committed that, had they been adults, be charged as criminals. Dependent on the actions taken by the offender, it is possible to move for their trial under an adult court (i.e. committing a heinous crime like murder) and tried as adults. While rebelling is expected in adolescence, a number of factors can lead to criminal and violent behavior among teens and because of their age, the Justice system has deemed that based on their crimes, the normative action would be rehabilitation unless their behavior and their actions is something heinous (i.e. they have a lengthy juvenile record, the offense is heinous, rehabilitation in the past has been unsuccessful, etc.).

Issue – Relevant Measure

One of the issues in juvenile justice assessment is relevant measure. According to Hoge (2009), “the assessment process is critical to the quality of decisions made about the youth, many juvenile justice systems depend on badly flawed assessment processes. In some cases there are simply no systematic assessments conducted. In other cases the assessments are conducted by unqualified individuals or reflect an absence of adequate standards and procedures.” Whereas the assessment is not fit or valid …