Juvenile Adjudicative Competence Interview (JACI)

This is included in Thomas Grisso’s book; Evaluating Juveniles’ Adjudicative Competence.  This is the first comprehensive guide offering clinicians the special concepts, procedures, and methods necessary to perform juvenile evaluations using a developmental perspective.  The book’s approach to evaluating youths’ competence to stand trial is consistent with nearly a decade of research by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice.

Written in 17 brief units, this guide for forensic clinicians begins with essential concepts that provide a sound legal and developmental psychological foundation for these evaluations.  The guide then proceeds to describe in detail special considerations for designing the evaluation, collecting data in ways that are sensitive to deficits in youths’ abilities due to clinical disorders and potential developmental immaturity, and interpreting the results to address the special challenges associated with identifying juveniles’ capacities and deficits as trial defendants.  The guide’s Appendices and CD-ROM (included with the book) provide a number of original forms and checklists for use in this evaluation process, including a structured interview – the Juvenile Adjudicative Competence Interview (JACI) – that assists clinicians in obtaining essential data related to youths’ strengths and deficits with legal and developmental relevance for their competence to stand trial.