Adolescent Brain Development - the Youth Advocacy Division

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Adolescent Brain Development Quick Reference Fact Sheet Background • With the recent cases of Graham v. Florida (2010), Roper v. Simmons (2005), Atkins v. Virginia (2002), and Thompson v. Oklahoma (1988), the topics of adolescent brain development and juvenile culpability have come to the forefront of juvenile criminal law. In Graham, the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to sentence juveniles convicted of non-homicide offenses to life without the possibility of parole. In Thompson and Roper, the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to give the death penalty to juveniles (Thompson set the age limit to 16, Roper to 18). In each of these cases, the underlying rationale was that juvenile offenders tend to lack maturity (both socially and biologically), are more reckless, are more susceptible to peer pressure, and are more vulnerable to their surroundings than adults. In both Graham and Atkins, the topic of brain development played a crucial role in the Court determining that the sentence in question was not appropriate in light of the lessened culpability of the category of offenders challenging the sentence (juveniles in Graham, mentally retarded individuals in Atkins). Indeed, the Graham decision went as far as stating that “An offender’s age is relevant to the 8 th amendment, and criminal procedure laws that fail to take defendants’ youthfulness into account at all would be flawed.” Graham v. Florida, No. 08-7412, slip. op at 25, 560 U.S. __ (2010) • Adolescent brain development has become an increasingly accurate field of research in recent years due to the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures. Prior to the use of MRI technology, the only major studies that had been performed involved post-mortem (cadaver) tissue, since X-rays and other means of testing were deemed potentially harmful to youth. MRI technology allows for the same subject to be tracked from infancy into adulthood. 1 • States and the federal government generally do not recognize youth as being mature enough to handle many situations. For example, youth cannot drive until age 16 (varies by state, w/ most adopting restrictions on under 18 drivers), or see rated R movies without adult supervision until they are 17. They cannot vote, smoke, sign contracts, enter military services, or get married (varies by state) until age 18. And lastly, they cannot drink until age 21. The implications of these social norms indicates that society does not fully trust youth with many privileges, and thus do not consider them as responsible as adults. 2 Implications • As compared to adults, juveniles have a “‘lack of maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility’”; they “are more vulnerable or susceptible to negative influences and outside pressures, including peer pressure”; and their characters are “not as well formed.” 3 • “The evidence is strong that the brain does not cease to mature until the early 20s in those relevant parts that govern impulsivity, judgment, planning for the future, foresight of consequences, and other characteristics that make people morally culpable.” 4 • “Neuroscientists have been able to demonstrate conclusively that mental maturation follows closely the time course of brain maturation. Thus, juveniles have to rely on the abilities of their still immature brains, and no amount of social intervention or self-motivation can appreciably influence the biological processes involved in brain maturation.” 5 • “The cortical regions that are last to mature… are involved in behavioral facets germane to many aspects of criminal culpability. Perhaps most relevant is the involvement of these brain regions in the control of aggression and other impulses, the process of planning for long-range goals, organization of sequential behavior, consideration of alternatives and consequences, the process of abstraction and mental flexibility, and aspects of memory including ‘working memory.’… If the neural substrates of these behaviors have not reached maturity before adulthood, it is unreasonable to expect the behaviors themselves to reflect mature thought processes.” [Emphasis Added]. 6
Scientific Backing • Myelination is the main index by which brain maturity is measured. Myelin implies more mature, efficient connections, within the brain’s ‘gray matter.’ UCLA researchers performed a study comparing myelination of young adults aged 23-30 with adolescents aged 12-16. They found that there was a stark contrast in the myelination, especially in the frontal lobe and frontal cortex, the areas that relate to the maturation of cognitive processing and other ‘executive functions.’ 7 • According to studies using advances in MRI technology, the area of the brain (frontal lobe) that is most related to decision making, planning, risk-assessment, judgment, and other factors generally associated with criminal culpability is also one of the last to fully mature. 8 • According to research conducted by Lawrence Steinberg, a noted Professor of Psychology at Temple University, “risky behavior in adolescence is the product of the interaction between changes in two distinct neurobiological systems: a socioemotional system [which includes the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex]. . . and a cognitive control system.” 9 Steinberg has noted that “changes in the socioemotional system at puberty may promote reckless, sensation-seeking behavior in early and middle adolescence, while the regions of the prefrontal cortex that govern cognitive control continue to mature over the course of adolescence and into young adulthood. This temporal gap between the increase in sensation seeking around puberty and the later development of mature selfregulatory competence may combine to make adolescence a time of inherently immature judgment. Thus, despite the fact that in many ways adolescents may appear to be as intelligent as adults (at least as indexed by performance on tests of information processing and logical reasoning), their ability to regulate their behavior in accord with these advanced intellectual abilities is more limited.” 10 • According to a study at Harvard’s McLean Hospital, young teens tend to rely more on the part of the brain (amygdala) responsible for fear and other ‘gut reactions’ when responding to other people’s emotions. Adults in contrast, more often utilize the frontal lobe, the part of the brain which yields more reasoned perceptions. 11 • According to a study performed by researches using MRI technology at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, adolescents use lower activation of the part of the brain that is “crucial for motivating behavior toward the prospect of rewards.” The study concludes that youth differ significantly in their responses to “rewarddirected behavior.” 12 • The production of testosterone, a hormone that is closely associated with aggression, increases approximately tenfold in adolescent boys. 13 1 American Bar Association (ABA): Juvenile Justice Center. Adolescence, Brain Development and Legal Culpability. 2004. 2 Fagan, Jeffrey. “Adolescents, Maturity, and the Law. The American Prospect. August, 2005. 3 Graham v. Florida, No. 08-7412, slip. op. at 17, 560 U.S. __ (2010) (quoted from Roper v. Simmons 543 U.S. at 569-570 (2005)). 4 Gur, Ruben C., Ph.D. Declaration of Ruben C. Gur. Patterson v. Texas. Petition for Writ of Certiorari to US Supreme Court, J. Gary Hart, Counsel. (2002). 5 Gur, op. cit. 6 Gur, op. cit. 7 National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Teenage Brain: A Work in Progress. A brief overview of research into brain development during adolescence. 2001. See also: Sowell, Elizabeth, et al. In vivo evidence for post-adolescent brain maturation in frontal and striatal regions. Nature Neuroscience, 1999; 2(10): 859-861. 8 Fagan, op, cit. See also: Goldberg, Elkhonon. The Executive Brain, Frontal Lobes and the Civilized Mind, (2001). 9 Lawrence Steinberg, Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice, ANNU. REV. CLIN. PSYCHOL. 2009. 5:47–73 at 54. 10 Id. at 55. 11 NIMH, op cit. See also: Baird, et al. Functional magnetic resonance imaging of facial affect recognition in children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 1999; 38(2): 195-9. 12 National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Adolescent Brains Show Reduced Reward Anticipation, 2004. 13 See Adams, Gerald R., Montemayor, Raymond, and Gullota, Thomas P., eds. Psychosocial Development during Adolescence. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA. (1996).
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