"Psychology in the Juvenile Justice System" Syllabus

Where are we going in this class?

What causes teenagers to commit crime? Are mental health problems at the root of juvenile delinquency? How are juveniles treated differently from adults in the U.S. criminal justice system? Do juveniles fully understand the consequences of their actions? What are the weaknesses of the U.S. juvenile justice system? This course is designed to address these questions and more. We will focus on the intersection of developmental and clinical psychology and juvenile delinquency. Together, we will work to develop a scientific and clinical understanding of the juvenile legal system. We will also examine various psychological disorders that are associated with juvenile delinquency, such as disruptive behavior disorders, internalizing disorders, PTSD, and substance use disorders. You will develop specialized knowledge of the juvenile justice system, including policing and interviewing of juveniles, juvenile courts and procedures, and violence risk assessment. Finally, we will learn about prevention and diversion programs, psychological treatments for juvenile offenders, and juvenile justice system reform. Ultimately, my goal for this course is to empower you to become dynamic, forward-thinking, evidence-driven psychologists who are equipped to thoughtfully engage with issues at the intersection of psychology and juvenile justice.

Please note that this course necessitates discussion of disturbing crimes, including forms of child maltreatment, and crimes committed by children and adolescents. It is perfectly normal to be uncomfortable with these topics. If, however, you feel that such topics would be especially distressing for you, this course may not be appropriate.

What will you learn?

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

1. Critically examine the intersection between mental health problems and juvenile justice system involvement.
2. Evaluate news and popular media about juvenile delinquency to identify inaccuracies and dramatizations.
3. Analyze the policies and procedures in the juvenile legal system.
4. Develop an empathetic perspective towards justice-involved youth as you consider their lived experiences and the challenges they face in the juvenile justice system.
5. Recognize the weaknesses of the current juvenile justice system and articulate areas and methods for reform.
6. Cultivate an appreciation for the importance of science and research in developing the competencies listed above.

Who is this course for?

Everyone! You may find it helpful to have taken PSYC 2410 Abnormal Psychology and/or PSYC 3445 Introduction to Clinical Psychology. However, information about specific psychopathology related to the week’s readings will be provided as resources prior to class and reviewed in class, so previous knowledge of psychopathology is not required to succeed in this class.

How are you going to learn these things?

To develop a multifaceted understanding of the course topics, we will examine them through multiple sources of information, including books, empirical research articles, news, media, documentaries, guest lectures from experts in the field, and one another.

Required text:

Cox, S. M., Allen, J. M., Hanser, R. D., & Conrad, J. J. (2021). Juvenile justice: A guide to theory, policy, and practice. Sage publications.

Note: Various options for buying/renting the book are available here: https://collegepublishing.sagepub.com/products/juvenile-justice-10-270192 or through the UVA Bookstore Inclusive Access Program.

Other weekly readings will be available in the weekly pages on Canvas.

How will we know that you have learned all this?

Grading

Assignment details and rubrics for the risk and protective factors assignment, juvenile delinquency in the popular media paper, juvenile justice in the news presentation, and the final paper will be provided at least 3 weeks in advance of due dates.

Assignments

Reading Reactions (20%): To give you practice analyzing and evaluating what you read, you will write a brief (~5 sentences) reaction to the assigned readings for the day before every class meeting. These responses should NOT be a summary of the readings, but rather your personal reactions to what you read, including specific details that you found interesting. In addition to the paragraph response, write 1-2 creative questions based on the assigned readings that you might like to discuss during class. You will be provided with several example responses and questions at the beginning of the course of what these reactions and questions should look like. These responses and discussion questions are due by 11:59pm on Mondays and Wednesdays (i.e., the night before class). You may miss three reading reactions without penalty.

Certain weeks, you will be asked to post your own response to the readings and then a response generated by AI. In 2-3 sentences, compare your response to that of the AI and offer at least one critique of the AI’s response. If you prefer not to use AI, an alternative (equal work) assignment will be provided on Canvas.

Learning Objective(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Due dates: January 26th, February 11th, March 23rd, April 8th, April 22nd

Leading Class Discussion (5%): To give you practice critically examining your ideas and questions, you will sign up to lead the in-class discussion once during the semester. On the day you lead, you will share which aspect of the reading you found to be most interesting. You will also pick 1-2 questions from the Canvas page (either your own or those of your peers) for us to discuss as a group for ~15 minutes.

Learning Objective(s): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Risk & Protective Factors Assignment (10%): In order to critically examine the intersection between mental health problems and juvenile justice system involvement, you will explore risk and protective factors for juvenile delinquency. For this assignment, you will find and write 5 brief summaries of empirical articles about 3 different risk factors and 2 different protective factors for juvenile justice system involvement. We will spend some time in class learning about how to identify and search for empirical articles. After you have summarized your articles, please write a 1-page double-spaced integrative statement of how the articles you read relate to what we learned in class and in the readings about risk and protective factors. A more detailed prompt and rubric will be provided on Canvas.

Learning Objective(s): 1, 4, 6

Due date: February 5th

Juvenile Delinquency in the Popular Media (15%): In order to evaluate popular media about juvenile delinquency, you will select one of the following films or two of the TV episodes below to watch. If there is a piece of media about juvenile delinquency that is not included here that you would rather watch, you must approve this with me. If you choose to go this route, this media must be a movie or two TV episodes you have not seen before. You will then write a 5-page double-spaced paper about your reactions to the media, as well as whether the film/media is or isn’t an accurate portrayal of adolescent development and/or mental health problems as they relate to the juvenile justice system based on what we have learned in class so far. You must include at least two specific quotes from the media to illustrate your points.

The UVA Library will help us get access to these films/shows. Links to view them will be provided on our Canvas website. Please pick one film OR two TV episodes to watch.

• Films
  • A Clockwork Orange
  • Thirteen
  • Dope
• TV Episodes
  • Euphoria (Season 2, Episode 5: "Stand Still Like the Hummingbird")
  • Criminal Minds (Season 6, Episode 5: “Safe Haven”)
  • CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Season 6, Episode 17: “The Unusual Suspect”)
  • Skins (Season 4, Episode 1: “Thomas”)

Note: These pieces of media depict varying levels of disturbing content. I will give you a summary of each in class so you can make an informed decision about which to watch. If you’re concerned about viewing any of these options, please come talk to me and we will find an alternative assignment. Also, if you choose a piece of media that you have already seen before, I encourage you to watch it again with the new perspectives that you have gained in this course because you will likely pick up on details that you did not previously.

Learning Objective(s): 1, 2, 4

Due date: February 24th

Juvenile Justice in the News (10%): In order to evaluate news media about juvenile delinquency, you and a partner will be expected to find a recent (<5 yr old) newspaper or online news article that is related to the course content. This could include an article about mental health issues in a particular case of a crime committed by a juvenile, biases in juvenile crime or arrest rates, a new policy or program related to mental health treatment in the juvenile justice system, or juvenile justice system reform. You and your partner will then present your article to the class as an 8-minute presentation.

Learning Objective(s): 1, 2, 3, 5

Presentation dates: March 17th, March 31st, April 7th

Final Project Paper (20%) and Peer Feedback (5%): In order to critically examine, evaluate, analyze, develop an empathic perspective, recognize the weaknesses of the juvenile justice system, and cultivate an appreciation for science and research, the purpose of the final project paper is to get you thinking like a juvenile forensic psychologist and pull together everything you have learned in the course. The paper will have three parts. First, you will be given a fictional case example about a youth who has committed a crime and will be asked to answer some questions about this case. Second, you will be asked to consider areas of reform for the current juvenile justice system. Finally, you will be asked to answer questions about your use of AI tools in this assignment (or alternative questions if you choose not to use AI tools). This will culminate in a 10-12 page double-spaced paper. You will provide in-class feedback to a peer on one section of their paper. More details about this assignment and its various components are posted on Canvas.

Learning Objectives: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6

Paper outline & literature review: April 16th

Peer review: April 28th

Paper due date: May 5th

Class Participation (15%): Participation grades will consider class attendance, arriving on time, active listening, contribution of thoughtful comments and/or questions during class, and completion of in-class activities. Being consistently late or absent, using your phone during class, using your laptop for purposes other than note-taking or in-class activities, and being distracted or disruptive will result in a deduction in your grade. See more information on the attendance policy below.

Reading Rewards (0.5% extra credit): Each student may earn a 0.5 percentage point of extra credit once during the semester by accurately answering a question related to the assigned readings during lecture. Opportunities will be distributed across class meetings. Alternative written responses may be offered when appropriate.

What else do I need to know?

Attendance: Attendance will be counted as part of your class participation grade. You are granted two unexcused absences for the semester. Each additional unexcused absence will result in a full grade step deduction in your class participation grade. Excused absences include: sickness, family emergencies, conference attendance and other important scholarly activities (e.g., taking the MCAT), athletic trips, and religious observances. Please inform me of excused absences in advance of class whenever possible. Additionally, if you are more than 15 minutes late to class, you will be counted as absent. If there are extenuating circumstances, please reach out to me and I am happy to discuss options if you need to miss more classes.

Late assignments: Grades will be deducted by 5% for assignments turned in within 8 hours after the due date. Assignments turned in more than 8 hours after the due date will receive a 10% deduction for every day that they are late. Weekly responses/discussion questions will not be accepted after the start of each class. If there are extenuating circumstances that are preventing you from meeting assignment due dates, please talk to me.

Minimal screens: Our classroom will be a minimal screens classroom in order to reduce distraction and improve engagement and learning. This will involve phones being put away in backpacks for the full duration of the class, notes written by hand, and, only if necessary, laptops used for notetaking with Wifi turned off. Before coming to classes, I would appreciate if you had readings downloaded and your notes (if digital) are available to you offline/downloaded. If you are the discussion leader for the day, you may use your laptop to access Canvas during the discussion period. Please see the following research that supports the effectiveness of minimal screens classrooms:

• https://seis.ucla.edu/news/new-study-looks-at-the-impact-of-screen-free-zones/
• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10755-022-09638-1

Honor code/ethics: I trust every student in this course to fully comply with all of the provisions of the University’s Honor Code. By enrolling in this course, you have agreed to abide by and uphold the Honor System of the University of Virginia. Suspected violations may be forwarded to the Honor Committee, and you may, at my discretion, receive an immediate zero on that assignment regardless of any action taken by the Honor Committee. Refer to the following resources as a reminder of what counts as academic fraud and plagiarism:

• What is academic fraud?
• Honor Committee Plagiarism Supplement
• Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism

All work for this class is expected to be completed on an individual basis (with the exception of the Juvenile Justice in the News assignment). You may have people outside the class (including the UVA Writing Center) proofread your papers, but you may not seek outside help for content (though the Writing Center can help you develop your ideas and strengthen your writing).

Use of artificial intelligence (AI): Generative artificial intelligence tools—software that creates new text, images, computer code, audio, video, and other content—have become widely available (e.g., ChatGPT). If you choose to use AI to assist you with assignments in this course, I want you to do so in a way that enhances your learning, rather than replaces your learning. There will be some assignments that will ask you to compare and contrast your own responses with those of AI. Because some of the main goals of this course are to develop critical thinking and communication skills, including writing skills, I would like you to write your responses in your own words. You may use AI as an editing tool for the assignments that do not involve an AI component. I also encourage you NOT to use AI as a replacement for reading or generating discussion questions. Some of the most important skills we can develop as psychologists are understanding and developing our own questions about research and other texts.

I also want to acknowledge the ethical and environmental implications of using AI (see https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/tip/Generative-AI-ethics-8-biggest-concerns and https://guides.lib.uci.edu/gen-ai/ethics for more info). It is completely acceptable to not use AI in this course. All assignments that involve AI will have an alternative (equal work) component if you would prefer not to use AI tools in this course.

Accessibility and Inclusion

All students have the right to a safe and supportive learning environment. I understand that students may need different supports to succeed, and I am happy to work with students to make this a productive learning environment with equitable opportunities to succeed. If you require accommodations, I will work with SDAC to make those accommodations. If you are not connected with SDAC (Student Disability Access Center) but believe you need accommodations, please contact me so we can discuss your options.

I value the diverse identities and perspectives students bring to the classroom, and I will strive to make an environment where everyone feels welcome and heard. I know it can be difficult to share our ideas, and I aim to support and reward you for going out on a limb and sharing your thoughts in my class. I will remain committed to creating an environment that supports every student’s learning throughout the semester.

Mental Health and Well-Being Resources

The past few years have been extremely challenging in different ways for most individuals. We have navigated the ongoing challenges and grief of a global pandemic, war, increasing racism, homophobia and transphobia, financial struggle, climate crises, major governmental changes, and rising gun violence. Of course, it is expected that these ongoing events will affect you and your loved ones directly or indirectly. If these events make it difficult for you to participate in this course, I encourage you to come talk with me and I will support you as best as I can. UVA Student Health also offers free, time-limited therapy to its students via Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS). Additionally, all students who pay the comprehensive health fee have access to virtual mental health services via the TimelyCare app. TimelyCare includes a 24/7, on-demand service called TalkNow. You can also call Helpline UVA by dialing 434-924-TALK; this is a free and confidential hotline serving Albemarle County and UVA students, and the anonymous volunteers can be helpful in directing you to long-term services if needed.