Risk assessment algorithms used in criminal justice settings are often said to introduce “bias”. But such charges can conflate an algorithm’s performance with bias in the data used to train the algorithm and with bias in the actions undertaken with an algorithm’s output. In this paper, algorithms themselves are the focus. Tradeoffs between different kinds of fairness and between fairness and accuracy are illustrated using an algorithmic application to juvenile justice data.

This publication covers: risk and needs assessments limitations, definitions, theoretical foundation, two approaches to administering risk/needs assessments: the actuarial approach and the structured professional judgment approach, examples, and outcome evidence.

This is the first thorough systematic scan of the U.S. to determine the extent to which these [risk assessment] tools have been adopted across the country (p. 1). Sections of this report address" statewide uniform assessment; layered/regional assessment; locally administered assessment; and design variation in assessment tools.

This publication explains why results from adolescent brain development studies in combination with other research that applies the foundation of this understanding to treatment and where interventions and practices with juvenile offenders achieve successful reductions of re-offending and improve positive youth development, it is apparent that the future of successful juvenile justice systems must be fundamentally driven by this research (p. 2).

In this Article, we summarize recent behavioral and neural findings on cognitive capacity in young adults (eighteen to twenty-one) and highlight several ways in which they bear on legal policies relating to the “age of adulthood (p. 769).

A 9th grader charged with assault for a spitball. A 12 year old sentenced to life in prison. These are the types of cases that Elizabeth Cauffman has focused her career on. She asks the fundamental question: are adolescents different from adults in ways that require different treatment under the law? In her talk, Elizabeth discusses how we can approach this question in a matter that is fair within our society.

Our aim in this essay is to examine the behavioral and neuroscience evidence that supports developmental immaturity of youthful offenders. We summarize findings from research over the past 20 years regarding brain, cognitive, and psychosocial development in adolescence. The main conclusions support the view that adolescence is a distinct period of development and that juvenile offenders deserve differential treatment and have much to gain from a less punitive orientation than at present.

Whether the revelation that the adolescent brain may be less mature than scientists had previously thought is ultimately a good thing, a bad thing, or a mixed blessing for young people remains to be seen. Some policymakers will use this evidence to argue in favor of restricting adolescents’ rights, and others will use it to advocate for policies that protect adolescents from harm. In either case, scientists should welcome the opportunity to inform policy discussions with the best available empirical evidence.

This report summarizes psychological and neuroscientific evidence from 26 peer-reviewed studies.

In these records you will find the most recent and the most authoritative articles on the topics, people and events that are shaping the criminal justice conversation.