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Major Principles in a Minor Context: Forensic Practices Involving Adolescents

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Handbook of Juvenile Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry

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Abstract

On March 12, 2008, Johanna Orozco appeared before the House and Senate of the Ohio Legislature. The teenage girl was lobbying to get a bill passed that would allow juveniles in abusive relationships to obtain court ordered protection, an option that has long existed for adults. Johanna’s face was seriously disfigured when she was shot at point blank range by the former boyfriend who had raped her and against whom she was the listed witness in his upcoming criminal trial. She spoke also for a deceased 17-year-old Toledo teen who did not survive her attacker’s assault. Orozco had hoped that the damage done to her face, even after extensive reconstruction, would convince legislators of the importance of the bill (Dissell 2008). On December 12, 2008, the bill died in the Senate after passing the House. Hopes of resurrecting it remain.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In a bizarre exception to the usual course of events, a juvenile sexual offender now age 37 has been in juvenile custody for 20 years. The California code allows individuals to be held under a category of a mental disorder that impairs control over dangerous behavior—but does not allow shift to adult facilities (McKinley 2009).

  2. 2.

    The recent handling by police of a Harvard University professor who was apprehended in his home on the ­mistaken basis that he was breaking and entering when he forgot his keys became a national issue with dispute around whether the situation reflected profiling or the ­professor inappropriately refusing the officer’s demand to leave his house after providing his identification (Goodenough 2009).

  3. 3.

    The remedy of required mitigation hearings did not, however, reduce the racial and socioeconomic bias in capital justice (Amnesty International 2003; Lybnch and Haney 2000).

  4. 4.

     What is not addressed is the potential dilemma when the adolescent understands but does not agree with a course of action and yet a decision is made by an adult or institution with the power to do so that requires compliance by the youth.

  5. 5.

     The AMA’s first ethics document was published in 1957, revised in 1980, and again in 2001.

  6. 6.

     One exception that can be cited is Roper v. Simmons (2005) in which the American Psychological Association brief that was referenced in the decision emphasized developmental differences specifically noting neurological substrates to behavior.

  7. 7.

    Supportive of the concerns raised by this issue is that a review conducted by this writer of the APA Presidential Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS) memoranda revealed rationalizations that are not inconsistent with the position that the means justifies the ends, as well as reflecting a protective stance toward APA that itself illustrates the ethical dilemma of serving more than one master.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fielding Graduate University, 2112 Santa Barbara Street, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105, USA

    Sandra B. McPherson PhD, ABPP

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  1. Sandra B. McPherson PhD, ABPP
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Correspondence to Sandra B. McPherson PhD, ABPP .

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  1. Yale University, S. Frontage Road 230, New Haven, 06519, Connecticut, USA

    Elena L. Grigorenko

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McPherson, S.B. (2012). Major Principles in a Minor Context: Forensic Practices Involving Adolescents. In: Grigorenko, E. (eds) Handbook of Juvenile Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0905-2_5

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