EVALUATION OF YOU'f JUVENILE JUSTICE SY RANDY OTTO AND RANDY BORUM FLO~UDA MENTAL mAUH INSTITUTE. UNIVERSITY OF SOrJ IPI FLORIDA The relationship between forensic clinical psychology and the juvenile courts and juvenile justice system is a special one. Psychologists and other mental health pro- fessionals have been involved in the juvenile courts since their inception a little over 100 years ago, and some have offered that forensic psychology can trace its roots to psychologists' involvenient in juvenile mnttcrs (Otto & Heilbrun, 2002). In this chapter, after providing an overview of thc juvcnile justice system and its history, we review a number of clinical issues CI iticnl to understanding adoles- cents and their involvement in the juvenile justice system, and we finish with a discussion of the law and clinical factors surrounding evaluation in this context. BRIEF HISTORY OF THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM The juvenile court and juvenile justice systcm arc relatively new legal institutions, having just celebrated their 100-year anniversaries a few years ago. The first juve- nile court came into existence in lllinois in 1899, and other states rapidly adopted the concept thereafter (Grisso, 1998a). Indeed, the impact of the first juvenile court has even expanded beyond the borders of the United States since special courts for juveniles exist in almost all developed nations [Zimring, 2000). Prior to the establishment of juvenile courts, minors age 14 and older who were accused of criminal acts were processed through (adult) criminal court and received adult sanctions (Tanenhaus, 2000). Children between the ages of 7 and 14 were 172