NCJ Number
145135
Journal
Juvenile and Family Court Journal Volume: 44 Issue: 3 Dated: (1993) Pages: 91-102
Date Published
1993
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The authors present the Juvenile Justice Assessment Instrument (JJAI), a new, economical, sophisticated instrument for assessing youths who enter the juvenile justice system, and results from two field trials with JJAI.
Abstract
The JJAI consists of 80 questions and takes about two- and-a-half hours to administer. In order to elicit honest and open responses from the juveniles, it is conducted in a casual manner, and related questions are separated throughout the interview. Responses are recorded verbatim to facilitate later analysis by persons other than the interviewer. The underlying purpose is to explore biopsychological vulnerabilities that may engender maladaptive behavior. The JJAI addresses the following topics: 1) circumstances regarding the offense; 2) aggressive acts; 3) use of weapons; 4) chronology of living situations; 5) school history; 6) family medical; psychiatric; and behavioral history; 7) social history; 8) sexual abuse history; 9) physical abuse and family violence history; 10) psychiatric history; 11) psychomotor/dissociative symptoms; 12) medical/neurological history; and 13) scars and other physical evidences of abuse. In the first field trial, among 14 juvenile delinquents in a juvenile justice setting, the JJAI documented a high prevalence of physical abuse, suicide attempts, drug and alcohol abuse, family psychiatric illness, and head trauma. In the second field trial, among 30 subjects in a residential treatment setting, the JJAI revealed that 13 individuals had histories of serious physical abuse. In both field trials, the JJAI provided much useful information, including some that had been overlooked in previous clinical evaluations of the subjects. 3 tables and 21 references