Incompetent Youth in California Juvenile Justice

This article offers a discussion and analysis of the extent of juvenile incompetence to stand trial in California, and of the ability of the system to meet the needs of these youth. It begins with an overview of the California juvenile justice system, briefly reviews the incompetency laws applying to adults, and then describes existing legal provisions to address juvenile incompetence. It also describes the context in which this work was undertaken. The Article presents the findings of the first-ever statewide survey of California probation departments on youth who are incompetent of potentially incompetent to stand trial in juvenile delinquency proceedings. It includes responses on incidence of incompetence, what happens on the way to a determination of incompetence, and what happens to youth who are judicially adjudged incompetent. The Article presents what county probation officers said about serving youth who are not judicially adjudged incompetent but who have developmental disabilities or serious mental health issues. Finally, the article closes with suggested policy actions to address the issues encountered in serving this populations, with examples of currently existing best practices.