The article below may contain offensive and/or incorrect content.
In two recent cases, the United States Supreme Court abolished mandatory juvenile life without parole (LWOP; Miller v. Alabama, 2012) and held that the ban applies retroactively (Montgomery v. Louisiana, 2016). Pointedly, the Court suggested that juveniles should only be sentenced to LWOP when they are "incorrigible" or "irreparably corrupt." In practical terms, this means juveniles should only be sentenced to LWOP if they are unlikely to desist from criminal activity. Although there are no measures of long-term risk for juveniles, making it difficult to predict which juveniles are incorrigible or irreparably corrupt, forensic mental health professionals are increasingly being called upon to offer opinions about the long-term risk of juvenile offenders in homicide cases. This article provides a framework through which forensic mental health professionals can approach such cases. Given research indicating that most juvenile offenders will naturally desist from criminal activity over time, we suggest the default assumption of forensic mental health professionals should be that any individual juvenile offender is also likely to desist. Any adjustment from this base-rate-informed assumption requires empirical justification–namely, the existence of factors associated with life-course persistent offending. Further, treatment amenability, protective factors, and the availability of effective interventions for reducing criminal risk should be considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)





Parent Site

Departments
Authors
Libraries
Current Articles
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Scientific Meeting » Workshop: Gene-based Therapeutics for Rare Genetic Neurodevelopmental Psychiatric Disorders
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Guiding gender-atypical kids through puberty
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Pandemic worsens child mental health crisis
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Being heard is more important to some people than following COVID-19 regulations
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Workaholics at a greater risk of depression
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Can kids have seasonal affective disorder?
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Video » NIMH Expert Dr. Krystal Lewis Discusses Managing Stress & Anxiety
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Scientific Meeting » NIMH Livestream Event: Managing Stress and Anxiety
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: A third of Americans don't see systemic racism as a barrier to good health
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: The challenge of pandemic fatigue is hitting people hard
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: How and why to take a break from the news
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: What brain imaging tells us about decluttering our minds
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Blog Post » Showing Support for Basic Researchers
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: How to reduce news-related stress for better mental health
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Five myths about loneliness
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: How to help someone struggling with suicidal ideation
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Better sleep hygiene is crucial when you're anxious
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: How to remotivate kids for more distance learning
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: How to set goals you’ll actually achieve
- Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: To 'keep sharp' this year, keep learning