Juvenile Defendants Research Articles

Tell the truth? Identifying common sources and types of advice juvenile defendants receive when pleading guilty to their first offense.

Tell the truth? Identifying common sources and types of advice juvenile defendants receive when pleading guilty to their first offense.

Protecting juvenile defendants in the trial and from the trial: special safeguards in EU and Italian regulations

Both the Directive 2016/800/EU and the Italian national law on juvenile criminal trial (presidential decree no. 448/1988) aim to provide specific safeguards for young suspects and defendants to protect their fragile and still-developing personality, and to ensure that any crime allegedly committed by the minor is an isolated incident in their past. These safeguards are required throughout criminal proceedings, especially during the trial stage, which can be confusing and overwhelming for a juvenile and may seriously impact their development. The trial phase – along with the precautionary limitation of personal freedom – seems to be the most dangerous procedural segment for children’s personalities. The trial is where the justice ‘play’ comes to life on its main stage, with its whole ritual, language, and characters. When attempting to identify safeguards intended to operate during the trial phase, two main fields seem to emerge: one focuses on the issue of assistance, which has to be more profound due to the unique nature of juvenile personality and experience of life; while the other one aims to protect children’s privacy so that their public image will be shielded as much as possible from the negative consequences of the trial. The article first focuses on these aspects by analysing legal regulations and the jurisprudence. In some cases, Italian legal regulation exceeds European directive standards, serving as a model for other legal systems. However, even though the internal regulation formally matches the EU requirement in some instances, it needs further improvement. Also, in terms of the law in action, the Italian jurisprudential approach sometimes weakens the safeguards provided by law, demonstrating the need for different interpretative solutions that are adequate to respect children’s rights fully. In the light of such issues, the author suggests some exegetical solutions.

Психологическая коррекция и профилактика деструктивного поведения несовершеннолетних в условиях следственного изолятора с учетом особенностей их самоотношения

<p style="text-align: justify;">The article shows the relevance of the problem of the influence of pre-trial detention conditions on the personality and behavior of minors. Some aspects of step-by-step correction and prevention of destructive behavior of minors in a pre-trial detention facility, taking into account the peculiarities of their self-attitude for the purpose of successful re-socialization, are considered. The pilot study involved 48 juvenile suspects, accused persons convicted of grave and especially grave articles held in pre-trial detention facilities of the penal system of the Russian Federation. The results of the evaluation of the experiment are described, namely, the use of a step-by-step structured psychological program, on the basis of which it is concluded that timely and structured correction and prevention of destructive behavior of minors in a pre-trial detention facility can contribute to positive changes in their attitude to themselves, self-organization of behavior and relationships with other people, predicting the consequences of their actions and emerging contacts with others, reduction of internal conflicts, self-acceptance, development of constructive reflection. The results of the study are of practical importance for the psychological services of institutions of the penal system, as well as specialists engaged in psychological support of juvenile offenders.</p>

The Political and Religious Context of Juvenile Punishment: A Multilevel Examination of Juvenile Court Dispositions in Three Southern States

Objectives We examine the relationship between political and religious context and juvenile court dispositions, including whether case-level indicators of focal concerns are moderated by community politics and religion. Methods Using a sample of 55,328 juvenile defendants across 175 counties in three states, we first employ multilevel modeling to estimate the direct effects of political and religious context on odds of placement. Second, we examine cross-level interactions between political and religious context, on the one hand, and major case-level predictors of placement, on the other. Results We found mixed support for the hypotheses. While neither political nor religious context were directly associated with odds of placement, religious context moderated several case-level effects. Specifically, findings indicated that violent offenders were punished more harshly in more religious and more religiously homogeneous counties, defendants with a prior record were punished less harshly in more religious and more religiously homogenous counties, Hispanic defendants were punished less harshly in more evangelical counties, and male defendants were punished less harshly in more religiously homogeneous counties. Conclusion Juvenile punishment varies across different courts and systems, yet major contextual hypotheses for this variation (e.g., minority threat) have received limited empirical support. Our findings indicate that other aspects of community context, most notably religiosity, may moderate the relationship between case-level factors and juvenile court punishment.

АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ ВОПРОСЫ ЭФФЕКТИВНОСТИ ПРИМЕНЕНИЯ МЕР ПРЕСЕЧЕНИЯ В ОТНОШЕНИЕ НЕСОВЕРШЕННОЛЕТНИХ ПОДОЗРЕВАЕМЫХ И ОБВИНЯЕМЫХ

The article deals with topical issues of the effectiveness of the use of preventive measures against juvenile suspects and accused persons. Based on the study of legal literature, judicial and investigative practice, the author analyzes the effectiveness of the use of preventive measures against minor suspects and accused persons, and focuses on controversial issues that require special attention.

Вправе ли несовершеннолетние участники уголовного судопроизводства давать показания изобличающего характера?

The problematic issue for theory and practice of the possibility of applying norms of the pre-trial agreement institute on cooperation to juvenile suspects and defendants is studied. The relevance of issue is due to the fact that the specified legal institution is successfully used in the practice of combating group crime, and for juveniles it is the group way of committing crimes that is typical. The legal position of the Plenum of Supreme Court on the issue under study is analyzed, its shortcomings are noted. The refusal to conclude a cooperation agreement with a juvenile in order to exclude a threat to the personal safety of a teenager from the exposed persons is subjected to critical analysis. In our opinion, in order to achieve this goal, another measure would be necessary – a ban on juvenile defendants to expose other persons of involvement in the commission of crimes. Taking into account the fact that the law obliges juveniles who have the procedural status of a victim or witness to give truthful testimony of a revealing nature, it is concluded that the right to give similar testimony to a minor suspect, accused should not be denied. The conclusion of a preliminary cooperation agreement in the interests of the accused himself and the whole society.

СОЦИАЛЬНЫЕ, ЛИЧНОСТНЫЕ И КЛИНИЧЕСКИЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ НЕСОВЕРШЕННОЛЕТНИХ ПОДОЗРЕВАЕМЫХ, ОБВИНЯЕМЫХ, ОСУЖДЕННЫХ, СТРАДАЮЩИХ АЛКОГОЛЬНОЙ И НАРКОТИЧЕСКОЙ ЗАВИСИМОСТЬЮ

Statement of the problem and the purpose of the article. The article presents the results of studying the social, personal and clinical characteristics of juvenile suspects, accused, and convicted persons suffering from alcohol and drug addiction. The characteristic features are analyzed of adolescents in conflict with the law, suffering from alcohol and drug addiction. An average psychological portrait of juvenile suspects, accused, and convicted persons suffering from substance addiction is presented. The necessity to study the problem of the formation of alcohol and drug addiction in penitentiary institutions, factors contributing to the formation of addictive behavior in order to identify adolescents at risk is substantiated. The materials are of interest to prison psychologists, psychologists of educational institutions, and representatives of the system of prevention of child neglect and juvenile delinquency. Materials and methods of research. The methodological and theoretical basis of the undertaken research includes systemic (B.F. Lomov), complex (B.G. Ananyev), activity-based (S.L. Rubinstein) and personality-oriented (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, A.G. Asmolov, A.A. Bodalev, A.V. Petrovsky, K. Rogers, A. Maslow) approaches; the concept of formation of child’s personality and self-consciousness (V.S. Mukhina, V.V. Stolin, etc.); the concept on the influence of activity and communication on the ontogenesis of children (L.S. Vygotsky, A.Ya. Varga, A.N. Leontiev, M.I. Lisina, A.S. Spivakovskaya, D.B. Elkonin, etc.). The study used a questionnaire survey to identify socio-demographic (intra-family relationships, social role, education, behavior before conviction), criminological (information from the Minors Affairs Department, type of crimes), medical characteristics and to identify the causes of alcohol and drug addiction in minors. There was also a study of the personality characteristics of juvenile suspects, accused, and convicted according to the following methods: Kettell’s method of multifactorial research of personality (form C), the abbreviated Mini-Cartoon test (SMIL), the Shmishek questionnaire (children’s version). Research results. The prerequisites are determined for early initiation into the use of alcoholic and narcotic substances, as well as criminalization of adolescents in conflict with the law in the territorial bodies of the Siberian Federal District. An average psychological portrait of juvenile suspects, accused, and convicted persons suffering from alcohol and drug addiction is presented. The necessity of studying the problem of the formation of alcohol and drug addiction in penitentiary institutions, factors contributing to the formation of addictive behavior in order to identify adolescents at risk is substantiated. Conclusion. Juvenile suspects, accused, and convicted persons suffering from alcohol and drug addiction have similar features in many ways, which allows us to present their average psychological portrait. Teenagers have a craving for communication, being part of significant groups, but communication is superficial, there may be a lack of a sense of distance in relationships with others. Below average level of verbal intelligence, narrow outlook. They tend to combine accentuations of hyperthymic, emotive types, with signs of cyclothymia. The reaction of emancipation is expressed, the orientation of attitudes towards self-affirmation, the desire for pleasure and the dominance of one’s own interests and desires. Inadequate self-esteem, high level of pretensions. Outbursts of anger and irritation are characteristic, especially when they meet strong opposition and fail. They are not taking their responsibilities seriously enough. Teenagers are characterized by instability of character, mood variability, which is difficult to predict. Juvenile suspects, accused, and convicted persons suffering from drug addiction also have signs of excitable, demonstrative, exalted types (Shmishek), which complements their psychological portrait with such qualities as impulsivity, impetuosity, short temper, quarrelsome in a team, a tendency to rudeness, fantasy, deceit, pretense, indifference to the future, increased impressionability, lability, but at the same time the ability to repress is expressed; the need for recognition, attention, sympathy; egocentrism.

PARTICULAR ISSUES OF THE SOURCE BASE RESEARCH ON THE PROTECTION OF THE CHILDREN'S RIGHTS IN THE U.S.

The article examines the source base of the children’s rights protection research in the United States. The scientific research in the area of the children’s rights protection in the U.S. is valuable because of its important scientific significance. However, for the completeness, comprehensiveness and objectivity of the research, we must conduct a scientific analysis of the components of the basis of the study. In our opinion, the specifics of historical and legal research require the study of sources on the basis of which the object of study was legally regulated in the different periods of time. The peculiarity of the source base of the study on the protection of the children’s rights is due to the constitutional status of the United States as a federal state. This feature led to the combination of the federal and local legal regulation, as well as organic combination of the statutory and precedent legal regulation. Therefore, the laws and court decisions were worked out to disclose the above issues. The U.S. Supreme Court in its decisions took the global trend of liberalizing criminal penalties of the juvenile defendants. In this paper we applied the methods of complex analysis and systematization to comprehensively cover the problem of the pluralism of approaches to the interpretation «source of law».

What Predicts Out-of-Home Placement in Juvenile Court Dispositions? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Research suggests that juvenile court dispositions are influenced by legal factors, such as offense severity and prior record, as well as extralegal factors, such as race/ethnicity, sex, and age. To date, however, no research has reviewed whether legal or extralegal factors are more predictive of juvenile court dispositions across extant research. To address this gap, the present study reports on a systematic review and meta-analysis of predictors of residential placement in the juvenile justice system. A total of 40 independent samples were analyzed from 33 studies that met the criteria for inclusion in the review. Meta-analytic techniques were used to examine the average effects of offense characteristics, prior record, age, preadjudication detention status, race and ethnicity, sex, and contextual factors on odds of placement. The findings suggest that legal factors are more strongly associated with juvenile court dispositions than extralegal or contextual factors. Additionally, the strongest predictor of placement was whether the juvenile defendant had been detained at intake, illustrating the influential role of early case assessment in juvenile court.

Waiving goodbye to youth: Jurors perceive transferred juveniles differently from adults but render similar verdicts.

Juveniles are developmentally different from adults but are often treated similarly in the criminal justice system. In case processing, many juveniles are transferred to adult courts. Before case processing, many juveniles are interrogated with the same tactics used against adults. Limited research has examined jurors' decisions in juvenile transfer cases, particularly those involving confession evidence. In two studies, we built on this small line of research and extended it to examine whether jurors make different decisions for juvenile versus adult defendants with differing types of confession evidence. Participants listened to a trial that varied in defendant age (Study 1: 16, 23; Study 2: 13, 16, 23, 42), interrogation pressure (low, high), and interrogation outcome (denial, confession). They rendered a verdict and rated the defendant on dangerousness and maturity. Age did not affect verdict in either study, but it did affect perceptions of dangerousness and maturity in both studies. Study 2 replicated and extended our findings by showing that differences in dangerousness and maturity were driven by participants' preexisting stereotypes about juveniles as superpredators. Overall, jurors recognized juveniles' lesser maturity but did not account for it in their verdicts. The stigma associated with the superpredator stereotype may limit jurors' sensitivity to the developmental vulnerabilities of juvenile defendants.

The legal mechanism for the re-use of diversion in criminal procedure legislation

The Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia does not prohibit repeated use of diversion against an adult. We consider that the mentioned issue presents legislative gap. It is inadmissible for an adult defendant to have more advantage in using an alternative measure of punishment than a juvenile defendant. According to the Juvenile Justice Code, if a person has been diverted in the past, it is not possible to divert him or her again. The article discusses the above issues and proposes a package of legislative changes which we believe will contribute to the improvement and liberalization of legislation in this regard.

Too Young for the Crime, Yet Old Enough to do Life: A Critical Review of How State Felony Murder Laws Apply to Juvenile Defendants

Too Young for the Crime, Yet Old Enough to do Life: A Critical Review of How State Felony Murder Laws Apply to Juvenile Defendants

Психологические особенности самоотношения несовершеннолетних, подозреваемых, обвиняемых, осужденных за насильственные преступления

The article looks into psychological characteristics of self-attitude in juvenile suspects, ac-cused and convicts of violent crimes held in detention facilities. Using the “Self-portrait” projective methodology, observation and psychodiagnostic structured counselling made it possible to reveal the psychological characteristics of self-attitude in such minors. It has been found that the structure of self-attitude components in juvenile suspects, accused and convicts is closely interrelated and organized and is characterised with inadequacy of their self-rating (upward or downward bias), difficulties in controlling one's drives of the body, aggressivity, egotism, proneness to depression, dependency, emotional immaturity, demon-strative behavior, proneness to internal conflict, “criminal contamination”, difficulties in communication.

Judge Peer Effects In the Courthouse

Although there exists a large literature analyzing whether an individual’s peers have an impact on that individual’s own behavior and subsequent outcomes, there is paucity of research on whether peers influence a person’s decisions and judgments regarding a third party. We investigate whether consequential decisions made by judges are impacted by the gender composition of these judges’ peer group. We utilize the universe of decisions on juvenile defendants in each courthouse in Louisiana between 1998 and 2012. Leveraging random assignment of cases to judges, and variations in judge peer composition generated by elections, retirements, deaths and resignations, we show that an increase in the proportion of female peers in the courthouse causes a rise in individual judges’ propensity to incarcerate, and an increase in the assigned sentence length. This effect is fully driven by female judges. We also demonstrate that the impact of proportion of female peers is not a proxy for other peer characteristics such as race and age. Further analysis suggests that this behavior of female judges is unlikely to be a reflection of an effort to conform to evolving norms of judicial stringency, measured by peers’ harshness in sentencing, but that it is due to the sheer exposure to female colleagues.

Features of proceedings against juvenile suspects (accused) according to the legislation of the Russian Federation and the republic of Mauritius

Features of proceedings against juvenile suspects (accused) according to the legislation of the Russian Federation and the republic of Mauritius

청소년 살인범죄 피해자 재피해화 연구

This study aims at identifying re-victimization (repeated/multiple victimization) that can occur to victims of violent crimes. For this purpose, a total of 61 judgments of juvenile homicide cases were collected from 2012 to 2020, and among them, 68 cases of juvenile defendants, including accomplices, were used as research data in 49 cases excluding the judgments of the appeals court. As a result of the analysis, it was confirmed that 48.6% of the victims suffered re-victimization out of all cases, and the ratio of re-victimization was particularly high when the victim and the perpetrator had the friend relationship (housemate after running away from home, schoolmate, etc.). Assault and sexual offenses were the most common types of victimization, and as an important key factor, the greater the number of accomplices in a case, the higher the likelihood of re-victimization. Through this, the significance of the study, discussion, and policy proposal were suggested.

Меры пресечения, не связанные с изоляцией от общества, избираемые несовершеннолетним: понятие, сущность, система

The relevance of the topic is determined by the importance of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of a minor who is a participant in criminal proceedings as a suspect or accused. It is generally recognized that the value of the legal system is determined, inter alia, by the legislator’s attention to these intangible benefits of minors, to the legal norms on the basis of which the protection of these persons in criminal proceedings is ensured. 
 The purpose of the article is to identify the legal features and problems in the field of legal regulation of preventive measures chosen in Russia by underage suspects (accused), which do not contribute to isolation from society. Preventive measures that are not related to the isolation from societyof a juvenile prosecuted by justice become an object of the article. The problems identified in the designated area of legal regulation and the ways of their optimal solution corresponding to these problemsare considered as the subject of the article. 
 The article reflects the issues of the concept, the legal nature (essence) of the measures of restraint chosen in relation to juvenile suspects (accused), not related to isolation and a system of such measures. It is noted that the Russian legislator, paying attention to the rights and legitimate interests of this category of persons, in standards regulating preventive measures, does not take into account the peculiarities of the legal status of a minor suspect and accused, the specifics of the application of preventive measures, as well as the aspects of the impact of isolation (not isolation) from society on psycho-physical condition of these persons.The novelty is defined by thesubstantiation that the humanistic principles of international law and Russian legislation should be reflected in preventive measures for minors with the priority of measures that prevent isolation from society, and, accordingly, from the family, where the formation of the moral aspects of the individual, traditions and universal values take place. 
 As a result, the author proposes the author’s definition of the legal category “measures of restraint chosen by minors, not related to isolation from society”, reflects the legal peculiarities of preventive measures chosen against juvenile suspects or accused, substantiates the need to amend Art. 423 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.

Procedural Rights Supporting Expeditious Trials for Juveniles

Abstract Delays pending trials can negatively impact juveniles. Encouragingly, the right of juvenile defendants to be tried within a reasonable time has been enshrined in international and regional human rights instruments. To support and strengthen the realisation of this specific right, several additional procedural entitlements, to which existing scholarship has paid limited attention, are of importance. This article focuses on how the rights to an effective remedy and legal representation can support the fulfilment of expeditious trials for juveniles. Furthermore, it analyses to what extent these two identified rights have been incorporated into significant international human rights standards and, specifically, in the Cambodian, Philippine and Vietnamese legislative frameworks. It identifies lessons Cambodia can draw from the latter two countries.

Protecting the Identity of Juveniles in Criminal Proceedings in Viet Nam and Victoria

Abstract This article compares protections relating to the non-disclosure of the identity of juveniles involved in the criminal justice systems of Viet Nam and Victoria (Australia). Both jurisdictions are committed to the principle of having an open court for the trials of juveniles. Nevertheless, being mindful of recommendations made by human rights bodies such as the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child – which promotes a closed court for these cases – both jurisdictions also recognise the importance of protecting the identity of juveniles on trial for criminal offences. They seek to balance their competing commitments to open court hearings and the protection of privacy through severely restricting the publication of information that could identify juvenile defendants. However, a review of the law and practices in both jurisdictions identifies different impacts and a number of problems. While restrictions on the publication of identifying information works effectively in Victoria, relevant laws are regularly breached without prosecution in Viet Nam. Significantly, existing protections in both Viet Nam and Victoria are almost exclusively focused on the trial phase and very few effective protections exist at earlier points, such as arrest and interrogation. This was highlighted by a focused investigation of pre-trial detention (bail), which revealed that while the practical operation of bail processes in Victoria is relatively stronger than in Viet Nam, statutory reform is required in both jurisdictions to strengthen legal protections against disclosure. In summary, the analysis demonstrates that it is possible to effectively protect the identity of juvenile defendants at the trial phase in an open court system provided that laws prohibiting the publication of identifying information are enacted, observed and enforced. In Viet Nam, significant changes in attitudes and practices are required to achieve this. Moreover, reform is required in both jurisdictions if the identity of juveniles involved in criminal justice proceedings is to be protected at the pre-trial phase.

MEASURES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURAL RESTRAINT AGAINST MINORS: LEGAL REGULATION AND PRACTICE

The article analyzes the current norms of international and Russian criminal procedure law and law enforcement practice concerning the selection of preventive measures against juvenile defendants. The author considers the peculiarities of the choice of preventive measures against minors as a way to prevent the negative influence (influence) on the minor participants in the process. The author examines the problematic issues in this area and suggests ways to solve them.