But he knew it was wrong: evaluating adolescent culpability.

Forensic psychiatric evaluators of adolescent defendants are often asked to address open-ended questions that affect what court an adolescent will be tried in and what sentence he might receive. Such questions often involve the extent to which the adolescent should be considered less culpable than an adult who has committed a similar offense. Assessing partial or diminished culpability in an adolescent is difficult because the concept of partial culpability is complex, assessment methods are inexact, and the implications for legal disposition are often not clear. This article suggests 10 factors a forensic evaluator may wish to consider in reaching opinions about an adolescent's culpability: appreciation of wrongfulness, ability to conform to law, developmental course of aggression and impulsivity, psychosocial immaturity (including time sense, susceptibility to peer pressure, risk-taking, and ability to empathize), environmental circumstances, peer group norms, out-of-character action, incomplete personality development, mental illness, and reactive attitudes toward the offense.