Developmental Factors Affecting Children in Legal Contexts
| DOI | 10.1177/1473225413492055 |
| Published date | 01 August 2013 |
| Author | Megan PY Sim,Michael E Lamb |
| Date | 01 August 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Youth Justice
13(2) 131 –144
© The Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/1473225413492055
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Developmental Factors Affecting
Children in Legal Contexts
Michael E Lamb and Megan PY Sim
Abstract
Developmental factors affect the way that children and young people behave in legal contexts. We first discuss
developmental factors such as cognitive and emotional development, social expectations and suggestibility
that affect young victims and suspects. We then describe some implications of these developmental factors
for police interviewers and for the youth justice system more generally and call for the more differentiated
treatment of young people according to their age and development.
Keywords
child development, child suspects, child victims, juvenile justice
Young people or children − terms used here interchangeably to refer to all individuals
under the age of 18 − interact with the justice system daily as witnesses, victims, and sus-
pects. While the incidence of substantiated child abuse is not published in the United
Kingdom, in 2011 approximately 50,500 children were registered on child protection
plans and considered to be at risk for physical, emotional or sexual abuse and neglect
(NSPCC, n.d.). In England and Wales, 241,737 juveniles were arrested in the fiscal year
2009/10, accounting for 17 per cent of all arrests during that same period (Ministry of
Justice, 2012). With such numbers of young people within the welfare and justice sys-
tems, it is crucial for researchers and practitioners to recognize that various developmen-
tal factors − cognitive, emotional, and social − can compromise the effective participation
of young people in legal contexts (Bruck et al., 2006). In this article, we discuss in turn
the developmental factors that affect youthful victims and suspects, while recognizing
that these factors overlap and are not unique to either group. We then comment on the
implications of these developmental factors and conclude by highlighting a proposal for
an overhauled youth justice system.
Corresponding author:
Michael E Lamb, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RQ, UK.
Email: mel37@cam.ac.uk
492055YJJ13210.1177/1473225413492055Youth JusticeLamb and Sim
2013
Article
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