Statutes governing juvenile competency to stand trial proceedings: An analysis of consistency with best practice recommendations.

As part of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Models for Change initiative, Larson and Grisso (2011) authored a document entitled Developing Statutes for Competence to Stand Trial in Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings: A Guide for Lawmakers. This guide outlines legal components and best practice recommendations that legislators might consider when creating or revising juvenile competency to stand trial (JCST) statutes. The present study identifies the 37 states that currently have JCST statutes and presents an analysis of how frequently these laws address the issues described by Larson and Grisso. Results revealed the majority of legal components were frequently addressed by current laws; however, far fewer did so according to the specific recommendations offered. States were ranked according to the number of legal issues addressed. Based on these results, it is clear the statutes in place establish a firm foundation where a wide range of legal issues are addressed; however, refinement of existing statutes would help states to achieve a higher level of consistency with best practice approaches that are supported by research findings and expert legal opinions.