Critical Intervention Point:  Judicial Processing

Overview of the Intervention Point

Once a case is referred to the juvenile court, there are a number of steps involved with judicial processing. There are two types of petitions that may be filed in juvenile court: a delinquency petition or a waiver petition (OJJDP, 2004). A delinquency petition states the allegations against the youth and requests the court to adjudicate (or judge) the youth a delinquent. In response to the delinquency petition, an adjudicatory hearing is scheduled. A waiver petition is filed when a prosecutor or an intake officer believes that a case currently under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court would be more suitably handled in adult criminal court. The decision to waive a case to adult criminal court generally centers around whether the youth is amenable to treatment in the juvenile justice system. Prosecutors can also argue that a youth’s previous experiences with the juvenile justice system have not prevented the youth from committing subsequent delinquent acts, or that the seriousness of the crime prevents the juvenile justice system from intervening with the youth for the time period necessary to rehabilitate the youth (OJJDP, 2004). If the judge agrees, the case is waived to adult criminal court. If the judge does not approve the waiver request, an adjudicatory hearing is scheduled.

At the adjudicatory hearing, witnesses are called and the facts of the case are presented to the judge. At this point, the juvenile may be found delinquent and a dispositional hearing is scheduled; the juvenile may be found not guilty and the case may be dismissed; or the case may be continued in contemplation of dismissal (ACD). In the event of an ACD, the youth may be asked to take some action prior to the final decision being made, such as paying restitution or obtaining treatment (McCord et al., 2001). In 2000, juveniles were adjudicated delinquent in 66 percent of cases petitioned to juvenile court (OJJDP, 2004). Once a youth is adjudicated delinquent, a disposition plan is developed. To prepare this plan, probation or court intake staff prepare a detailed history of the youth and assess available support systems and programs. To assist with the preparation of the disposition plan, the court may order psychological evaluations, diagnostic testing or a period of confinement in a diagnostic facility to ascertain the youth’s current mental health status and the need for any specialized treatment services.

Mental Health Needs and Issues

The judicial processing stage presents numerous opportunities for a youth’s mental status to be considered. It is of critical importance that judges have sufficient information about a youth’s mental health treatment history and current needs in order to have some sense of how a youth’s mental health disorder may have contributed to the problem behavior and/or offense, and make an informed dispositional determination. The judge’s decision will have a significant and long lasting affect on a youth’s life. Ideally, information on a youth’s mental status should be collected prior to the youth’s case being referred to court, and the information used to divert youth earlier in the process, for example at probation intake or at detention, to community-based treatment settings. However, for some youth, these diversion opportunities do not exist, and the first attempt to identify any mental health concerns comes at the time when a youth has been adjudicated and intake staff are developing the dispositional plan. Every effort must be made to ensure that a youth’s mental status is thoroughly evaluated at this stage so that this information can be presented to the court and considered as part of the disposition plan.

Further, it is critical that intake staff have a thorough understanding of the community-based services and programs available to which a youth can be referred, so that this information can be included in the dispositional plan and communicated to the court. Often, judges complain that they do not have sufficient information about services that are available within the community to which they can order a youth, leaving them with little alternative but to commit a youth to residential placement.

Many large juvenile courts have the resources to order clinical assessments for youth with special needs that must be taken into account by judges when deciding on the proper disposition of a case (Grisso, Vincent, & Seagrave, 2005). Typically, the focus of these assessments is to determine necessary treatment for a youth’s mental disorder and the degree of security required in the youth’s dispositional plan. In some instances, juvenile courts operate clinics specifically for this purpose. Court clinics typically employ a range of professionals, including psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers, who provide court-ordered evaluations, referral services, and some treatment services for youth and families involved with the juvenile court on status, delinquency and sometimes child protective cases (National Center for Juvenile Justice, 2004). In other instances, juvenile courts contract with mental health providers who perform assessments and evaluations and provide reports to the court documenting their findings and recommendations.

The Boston Juvenile Court Clinic was designed to provide evaluation and treatment services to youth involved with the juvenile court. It is one of the first such clinics in the United States. The clinic provides evaluation and some treatment services to over 900 youth a year, and the majority of cases involve delinquency, status offense, and child abuse matters, and problems related to exposure to various types of trauma. Services are provided by a multi-disciplinary team that provides evaluation, consultation, and treatment services for the court. In addition, the clinic operates intervention programs for parents and children, including parenting programs, anger-management interventions, and substance abuse education programs.

The Cook County, Illinois, Juvenile Court Clinic has responsibility for providing a variety of services to judges and court personnel regarding clinical information in juvenile court proceedings. Originally piloted as the Clinical Evaluation and Services Initiative (CESI), the model was expanded and redesigned as the Cook County Juvenile Court Clinic. It consists of four units (Clinical Coordination, Education and Intervention Resources, Clinic Administration, and Program Evaluation) and is managed by a single director who oversees a multidisciplinary staff consisting of psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and lawyers. Services include consultation regarding requests for clinical information, forensic clinical assessments in response to court-ordered requests, information regarding community based mental health resources, and education programs on issues relating to mental health information and court proceedings. With a clinical coordinator present in the courtroom, the Court Clinic is able to provide guidance to judges and probation staff about whether an evaluation is necessary and whether a youth’s needs can be met in a community-based program.

Some jurisdictions have created specialized courts, such as mental health courts, within the juvenile court to exclusively serve youth with mental health needs. While mental health courts are being used increasingly in adult criminal justice systems, this movement is just beginning to take hold within the juvenile justice system. While there has been no large scale examination of how these courts are developing, the kinds of services that are offered, and how successful they are in addressing psychiatric needs and reducing recidivism, there is significant interest in these courts as a way to provide effective mental health and other services to youth. Some, however, have expressed caution about the growth of these courts, citing concerns that juvenile mental health courts raise many of the same issues posed by adult mental health courts, including lengthier and more intensive court oversight than traditional courts, and the requirement that youth be arrested in order to receive necessary mental health treatment (Harris & Seltzer, 2004). These courts, it is argued, divert attention and resources from prevention and early intervention efforts (Harris & Seltzer, 2004).

The Court for the Individualized Treatment of Adolescents (CITA) in Santa Clara County, California, established in 2001, was the first juvenile mental health court in the country. To be eligible for participation in CITA, a youth must have been under 14 years of age at the time of the offense and have a serious mental illness, including brain disorders (schizophrenia, severe anxiety, bipolar disorder, and severe ADHD) or severe head injury that has contributed to their criminal activity. The court also accepts youth with certain developmental disabilities such as mental retardation and autism. The court uses a multi-disciplinary team approach to assess, monitor, and make recommendations to the court regarding a youth participant’s case. The team consists of representatives from mental health and probation, and a prosecutor and defense attorney. Referral sources for CITA include juvenile hall, probation, district attorney, and the public defender.

Upon acceptance to the program, all youth receive a clinical assessment, which includes psychological, behavioral, educational, social, and family assessments. In some instances, standardized assessment instruments, such as the DISC, are used. A mental health coordinator, who is also responsible for conducting the initial assessment to determine eligibility, oversees these assessments. Once accepted into CITA, the coordinator monitors treatment planning and reports to the multi-disciplinary team. Mental health services available through CITA include therapy, emergency services, medication, and wraparound services. Community supervision through face-to-face visits with the youth and visits with the family is the responsibility of the probation officer, who then reports this information to the court. As the youth progresses through CITA, transition planning is conducted to help facilitate a successful transition to the community.

Crossroads, a treatment court in Summit County, Ohio, was established as a drug court in 1999 and began mental health treatment in 2003. Crossroads serves court-involved youth ages 12 to 17 who have a major affective disorder, severe post-traumatic stress disorder, psychotic disorders, or who have a co-occurring substance use disorder. The court excludes youth with serious felony charges, as well as previous convictions or current charges for certain drug and gang related offenses. Youth undergo a comprehensive assessment process and receive services from community-based providers. Among the services available to youth is Integrated Co-Occurring Treatment (ICT), an intensive, home-based treatment intervention for youth with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders. Referrals to the Crossroads are made post-adjudication, but if a youth successfully completes the program, the admitting charge, and any related probation violations, are expunged from the youth’s record. Youth remain in Crossroads for a minimum of one year.

The King County, Seattle Treatment Court, created in November 2003, is a treatment court for youth with mental health and co-occurring substance use disorders. The probation department, in conjunction with the departments of mental health and substance abuse and the juvenile court, administers the treatment court. To be eligible, youth must have a psychiatric disorder (based on DSM-IV criteria) and substance abuse or dependence. The youth must also be at moderate or high risk for re-offending. The large majority of the treatment court’s participants are involved with the court pre-adjudication, with the understanding that successful completion of the court’s requirements can result in the dismissal of charges. These youth are screened at probation intake (using the CRAFT). Results of this screen are given to the youth’s attorney, who may then request an assessment and consideration for the program. Court participants receive multi-systemic therapy (MST), which includes substance abuse interventions and family therapy. Each youth is also assigned an advocacy team coordinator responsible for case management, wraparound services, and facilitating linkages with community providers. Progress and treatment compliance are monitored by monthly judicial reviews and reports from probation officers and treatment providers.