Soon after a case is referred to juvenile court, an intake officer or prosecutor decides whether to handle the case "informally" or "formally." As a result, important decisions are made early in a juvenile’s court involvement.

Informal processing involves the juvenile’s voluntary acceptance of sanctions and recommendations. When prosecutors, probation officers and other screening staff believe accountability and rehabilitation can be achieved without formal court intervention they recommend informal processing. Understandably, empirically based juvenile assessment results are of great value at this juncture. Informal recommendations could include counseling (individual or group), substance (alcohol or other drugs) abuse treatment, family counseling, etc. When informally handled, the case may be held open pending completion of the juvenile’s program. Upon completion of all informal dispositions the juvenile’s charges are dropped.

A juvenile may be adjudicated delinquent after admitting to the charges or after the court concludes, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the juvenile is guilty. Adjudicated delinquents can be ordered to residential treatment placement, probation, substance (alcohol or other drugs) abuse treatment, counseling (individual or group), etc. Clearly, screening professionals, probation officers and judges want and need objective, standardized and accurate juvenile assessment instrument or test information. In 1997 juvenile courts formally processed 996,000 delinquency cases.

Probation is the oldest and most widely used community-based corrections program. Probation involves both first-time, low-risk juveniles and more serious juvenile offenders. During probation the juvenile offender remains in the community. Once a case is adjudicated by the court, the juvenile is formally ordered to probation and must comply with the conditions of probation. The number of adjudicated delinquency cases placed on formal probation was 318,700 in 1997.

Juvenile cases are often categorized by the seriousness of the offense. A general rule is the more serious the offense the more likely the case will be brought before a judge for formal sentencing. Yet, regardless of "informal" or "formal" processing of juvenile cases, reliable, valid, accurate and objective empirically based juvenile assessment information is needed.

If you’re searching for a juvenile test that has been standardized on juvenile offenders themselves, we recommend consideration of the Juvenile Presentence Evaluation or JPE.

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