juvenile 1 .edited.edited.docx - 1 Presentence Evaluations...

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Presentence Evaluations for Sentencing Young Offenders
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Article Review
In this article, Bycroft et al. (2020) identifies the significant areas of skills and knowledge
that law practitioners require to become competent in evaluating young offenders in Australia
before a sentence is declared. The author utilizes the international and Australian literature to
express the requirements to accomplish the work of evaluating forensics. The article also outlines
the critical methodological and ethical standards that psychologists in Australia ought to have for
them to undertake forensic evaluations of young offenders.
Relationship of the Article and the Topic.
The article relates to my topic on presentence evaluations for sentencing young offenders.
It explains the critical guidelines Australian psychologists must carry out during the presentence
evaluations for juveniles. Most presentence evaluations on Australian juveniles are carried out
by psychologists who lack formal training in forensic practices. The research that was done in
this paper consists of three parts; Requisite Skills, Ethical guidelines, and the Methodology for
presentence evaluation.
Research Done on Requisite Knowledge and Skills.
Generic Forensic Knowledge
Here, psychologists are equipped with a lot of knowledge through training so that they
can understand how to use their skills in psychology to the benefit of the courts. Having gotten
enough skills, they should have the ability to know the required legal and justice matters to be
generated and used legally. Psychologists can also acquire forensic skills through studying
history and participating in development training, but first, they must be aware of the kind of
knowledge and abilities they want. Secondly, they must identify the areas of knowledge that may

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be used by the evaluator, which include knowledge of sentencing, which the sentencing officer is
likely to use.
Knowledge of the sentencing task
Knowledge of the sentencing task shows how Australian juvenile courts deal with
juveniles. Young offenders' courts have their procedures and legislations, and forensic evaluators
must be familiar with them. Jurisdictions use two models for sentencing young offenders, and
that is the welfare model, which involves recovering the losses encountered by the sufferer and
the reintegration and rehabilitation of the offender into society. Secondly is the justice model,
which ensures proportionality between the crime and the punishment, and the safety of the
community is considered. When the offense is severe, the court may choose discipline over
rehabilitation if the offender does not change his/her ways. The sentencing officer must be aware