A First Look at the Plea Deal Experiences of Juveniles Tried in Adult Court

Authors

Tarika Daftary-Kapur, Montclair State UniversityFollow
Tina Zottoli, Montclair State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 10-30-2014

Journal / Book Title

International Journal of Forensic Mental Health

Abstract

While there is a large body of research on the legal capacities of adolescents, this research largely has neglected the plea-deal context. To learn about adolescents’ understanding of the plea process and their appreciation of the short- and long-term consequences of accepting a plea deal, we conducted interviews with 40 juveniles who were offered plea deals in adult criminal court. Participants displayed a limited understanding of the plea process were not fully aware of their legal options and appeared to be overly influenced by the short-term benefits associated with accepting their plea deals. Limited contact with attorneys may have contributed to poor understanding. Although preliminary, our results suggest that these youth might be at increased risk for due-process rights violations. We use these data to point to several open research questions on the plea-deal process for youth charged as adults.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/14999013.2014.960983

MSU Digital Commons Citation

Daftary-Kapur, Tarika and Zottoli, Tina, "A First Look at the Plea Deal Experiences of Juveniles Tried in Adult Court" (2014). Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 170.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/justice-studies-facpubs/170

Published Citation

Daftary-Kapur, Tarika, and Tina M. Zottoli. "A first look at the plea deal experiences of juveniles tried in adult court." International Journal of Forensic Mental Health 13, no. 4 (2014): 323-336.