Juvenile Competency

The additional considerations (age, maturity, mental illness, developmental disability, mental retardation, etc) used in assessing the competence of juveniles does provide a more comprehensive understanding of the individuals. Those criteria are a separate aspect of the assessment and, while those considerations may be part of the underlying reasoning in the examiner's opinion, that opinion is ultimately driven by the 'Dusky' standard. How the added elements might be applied or used by the court is unclear.