Article: Neuropsychological Development In Legal System, Steinberg

Front 1

According to Steinberg's view the risky behavior in adolescence is the product of interaction of what two systems?

Back 1

1. Socioemotional system
2. Cognitive control system

Front 2

Where is the socioemotional system located in the brain?

Back 2

Localized in limbic and paralimbic areas of the brain, including the amygdala, ventral striatum, orbitofrontal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, and superior tem poral sulcus

Front 3

Where is the cognitive control system located in the brain?

Back 3

Mainly composed of the lateral prefrontal and parietal cortices and those parts of the anterior cingulate cortex to which they are interconnected

Front 4

What does Steinberg's theory hypothesis?

Back 4

According to this dual-systems model, adolescent risk taking is hypothesized to be stimulated by a rapid and dramatic increase in dopaminergic part of reward circuitry) activity within the socioemotional system around the time of puberty, which is presumed to lead to increases in reward seeking.

Front 5

How is the model explained in the brain?

Back 5

a.Synaptic pruning. myelination of prefrontal brain regions
b.Improvements in executive function(response inhibition, planning, weighing risks and rewards, considering multiple sources of info)
c.Improved regulation of affect and cognition

Front 6

What does this model say about teenage development?

Back 6

iv. Not the fact that teens are less knowledgeable about risks, but rather that they attach greater value to the rewards that risk taking provides. Example: Tower of London task.

Front 7

How does development play into decision making?

Back 7

Less able to use cognitive capacities as effectively when decisions are influenced by emotional and social variables.

Front 8

What are the implications for Steinberg's theory on the juvenile justice system?

Back 8

i. Below a certain age cannot grasp the long-term consequences or cannot control their impulses, one cannot hold them fully accountable (Penal Proportionality)
- Neurodevelopment does not excuse adolescents from criminal responsibility, but it renders them less blameworthy and less deserving of adult punishment.
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Front 9

Penal Proportionality

Back 9

The principle in American criminal law linking the severity of punishment for a crime to the criminal’s culpability

Front 10

What is the Dusky Standard?

Back 10

Distinct and different than the characterological features in immature adults, but can be similarly linked to developmental incompetence.
(a) a factual understanding of the proceedings,
(b) a rational understanding of the proceedings, and
(c) the ability to assist counsel

Front 11

Which study supports findings that teens have poorer understanding of trial matters and relevance of reasoning for legal defense?

Back 11

MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice

Front 12

Main conclusion of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice

Back 12

Determinations of where to draw a legal boundary between adolescence and adulthood must be domain specific.

Front 13

What do case studies of recidivism teach us about this issue?

Back 13

- Higher rates of recidivism in juvenile system.
- Use of developmental psychology aid in skill building and prevention
- Successful therapies: Multisystemic Therapy, Functional Family Therapy, and Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care
NOTE: Boot camps are shown to NOT work

Front 14

How do the successful juvenile justice programs work?

Back 14

2. Acquire the social skills necessary to establish stable intimate relationships and to cooperate in groups.
3. Must begin to learn to behave responsibly without external supervision and to set meaningful personal goals for themselves. (SUCCESS=Opportunity to gain the above, especially impacting recidivism)