Attorneys’ Perspectives on Parental Involvement in Youth Probation Processes

Abstract

Probation is the most frequent disposition of juvenile delinquency cases and high rates of youth struggle to fulfill probation requirements. Parental involvement may play a significant role in shaping experiences on probation. Attorneys’ perspectives on the role of parental involvement and how training experiences inform their consideration of parent factors in disposition planning are essential to examine. Defense attorneys (N = 151) with past-year experience representing at least one juvenile client completed an online survey after reviewing a hypothetical probation case plan vignette for a youth client. Participants viewed a vignette with or without information about the youth’s parent. Attorneys strongly endorsed the importance of parental involvement in youth probation and recognized that many factors can impact involvement. Hours of training did not predict attitudes towards parental involvement, and such attitudes did not predict how attorneys handled the case plan. Access to parent-related information did inform perceptions of the plan’s appropriateness. Findings suggest trainings should focus on how attorneys can apply understanding of parental involvement to direct advocacy. Policy and practice reforms must promote supportive parental involvement in probation on a structural level.

Keywords

youth probation parental involvement defense attorney juvenile justice

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