Assignment:
Jason was recently arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He is a seventeen-year-old male who had a small caliber pistol on school grounds. A fellow student told the school resource officer who confronted Jason. The school resource officer saw Jason and shouted at him to lay flat on the ground with his hands behind his head. Jason laughed and said there was nothing to worry about. He then pulled the gun out of his jacket pocket and pointed it into the air and said, "Look it isn't even loaded" and then discharged two rounds into the ceiling. He immediately dropped the gun and fell to the floor, obviously surprised.
Jason has had two previous arrests. One arrest was for obstructing/opposing an officer without violence when he became involved in a possible domestic violence arrest that was the result of an argument between his teenage sister and his mother. His second arrest was for battery and was the result of a fight with another boy after school. He claimed the boy had been bullying him. Both arrests were handled in juvenile court and he served probation.
Jason currently faces several charges including possession of a weapon on school grounds, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and improper discharge of a firearm. If he is tried in juvenile court, he will receive probation until his eighteenth birthday, and the record will be sealed. If he is transferred to adult court, his prior arrests will be used to determine sentencing, and he will receive a minimum mandatory sentence of five years in prison.
Written Exercise Questions:
1. What are the issues that need to be considered by a forensic psychologist in determining a transfer to adult court?
2. What methods would be used to make this decision?
3. What additional information would help in making this decision?
4. Identify why some juveniles are transferred to adult court.
5. Should Jason, in your expert opinion, be referred to adult court or should he remain in juvenile court?
6. Include in your response the goals of juvenile court in comparison to adult court; identify the differences between juvenile court and adult court.
7. Finally, explain why you do or do not agree with the trend of trying juveniles in adult courts.