NCJ Number
155636
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 19 Issue: 3 Dated: (June 1995) Pages: 221- 244
Date Published
1995
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This paper challenges the use of an informed-consent model for comparing adolescent and adult decisionmaking and proposes an expanded decisionmaking framework designed to evaluate judgment in adults and adolescents as a more effective method of testing the empirical basis of paternalistic legal policies.
Abstract
Three judgment factors (temporal perspective, attitude toward risk and peer and parental influence) and their effects on decisionmaking are explored. The discussion notes that the juvenile justice system and the infancy doctrine in contract law rest on the view that minors need protection from the costs of immature youthful choices. Three legally relevant contexts for research are medical treatment, including both reproductive choices and long-term or chronic illness treatment; mental health treatment; and delinquent and/or criminal behavior. Recent increases in serious juvenile crime have prompted legislation facilitating or mandating juvenile court waiver; this approach counters a basic premise of the juvenile justice system and eliminates the cornerstone of the juvenile justice system: individualized justice with a focus on rehabilitation. Research on adolescent decisionmaking should use a judgment framework and methods that will aid policymaking based on data rather than intuition and ideology. Footnotes and 117 references