Clinical Study of Youths Petitioned for Certification as Adults

Abstract

This study examined the psychological and intellectual differences between youths who had been petitioned for certification as adults and youths with similar arrest records who had not been petitioned for certification. There were no age, race, or sex differences among groups; offenses charged were also, in general, equally distributed among groups. There were no intellectual differences among groups; the measured intelligence of these youths was significantly lower than that of the general population but was consistent with previous findings regarding the intellectual findings for delinquents. Bender-Gestalt performance and human figure drawings when scored objectively did not differentiate among groups. Differences on the MMPI were largely on the “neurotic” scales and were higher for the petitioned groups of youngsters. It was believed unlikely that differences were due to characteristic psychopathology.