Psychological Assessment for Adult Sentencing of Juvenile Offenders: An Evaluation of the RSTI and the SAVRY

摘要

Two measures relevant to the assessment of juvenile offenders for transfer to adult court, the Risk-Sophistication-Treatment Inventory (RSTI) and the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY), were evaluated in the present study. Seventy-four adolescents considered for transfer were scored on these tools using file information, and clinicians’ transfer reports were coded for judgments of risk, maturity, and treatment amenability. Scores on RSTI Risk, Criminal Sophistication, and Treatment Amenability scales and SAVRY Total and Protective scales were significantly associated with adult sentences. Further, RSTI Criminal Sophistication explained significant additional variance in the adult sentencing decision beyond other legal criteria such as offense severity. However, scores on the RSTI Sophistication-Maturity scale were not associated with adult sentences. Results provide support for the use of the RSTI and the SAVRY, underscore the potential importance of psychological characteristics to adult sentencing decisions, and reflect challenges inherent in psycho-legal assessments of maturity.