College students are tough juries when it comes to juvenile crime.
An attitude study of 480 University of California, Davis undergraduates found that students think that juvenile offenders, even as young as 11 years old, are more competent to stand trial when they kill than when they injure a person, regardless of their intent. What's more, the students are ready to throw the book at them, according to a recent study by a University of California, Davis graduate student in psychology. The students were asked to determine a prison sentence and rate perceptions of the juvenile's accountability and legal competence. The study has implications not only regarding public opinion about juvenile delinquents but also for the way juveniles are judged when being prosecuted as adults in criminal courts, Ghetti says. Ultimately, people may overestimate juveniles' competence.