The juvenile court’s use of judicial waiver has changed over the past decade

The profile of waived cases has changed

In 1989, property cases were nearly half of all delinquency cases judicially waived from juvenile court to criminal court. In 1994, waived cases had a greater proportion of person offense cases than property cases (44% versus 37%). By 1998, property cases once again accounted for the largest proportion of waived cases (40% versus 36% for person cases). In comparison, drug and public order cases made up smaller proportions of waived cases in 1998 (16% and 8%, respectively).

Offense profile of judicially waived cases:

Offense	1989	1994	1998
Waived cases	100%	100%	100%
Person	28	44	36
Property	49	37	40
Drugs	16	11	16
Public order	7	8	8
Number of cases	8,000	12,100	8,100
Note: Detail may not total 100% because of rounding.

The demographic characteristics of judicially waived cases have also changed somewhat over the past decade.

Percentage of formally handled cases judicially waived to criminal court:

Characteristic	1989	1998
Gender	100%	100%
Male	95	93
Female	5	7
Race	100%	100%
White	49	55
Black	49	42
Other races	2	3
Age	100%	100%
15 or younger	11	13
16 or older	89	87
Note: Detail may not total 100% because of rounding. All racial groups include Hispanics.

Juvenile courts waived 33% fewer delinquency cases to criminal court in 1998 than in 1994

• The number of delinquency cases waived to criminal court grew 51% between 1989 and 1994, from 8,000 to about 12,000. By 1998, waived cases were down 33%, nearly to the 1989 level.

• From 1993 through 1997, person offenses outnumbered property offenses among waived cases. In 1998, property offenses outnumbered person offenses among waived cases, as they had prior to 1993.

• The number of waived person offense cases increased 133% from 1989 to 1994 and then decreased 45% by 1998, for an overall increase of 28% from 1989 to 1998.

• The number of waived drug cases was relatively flat, other than a 1-year jump in 1991 when the number of drug cases waived was nearly 40% greater than the average for all other years between 1989 and 1998.

• The overall proportion of petitioned delinquency cases waived was 1.3% in 1989, peaked at 1.5% in 1991, and then dropped to 0.8% by 1998.

• From 1989 through 1992, drug cases were the most likely type of case to be waived. From 1993 through 1998, person offense cases were the most likely type of case to be waived.

Source: Author's adaptation of Puzzanchera et al.'s Juvenile Court Statistics 1998.

Although the proportions of judicially waived cases involving females and younger juveniles increased slightly between 1989 and 1998, the vast majority of waived cases involved males age 16 or older. However, the proportion of older males among judicially waived cases decreased somewhat, from 85% in 1989 to 81% in 1998.

The likelihood of waiver varied across case characteristics

In 1998, a greater proportion of cases involving males was waived than cases involving females. This was true in each of the four general offense categories. For example, males charged with person offenses were four times as likely as females charged with person offenses to have their cases waived to criminal court. However, this comparison does not control for male-female differences in the seriousness of offenses within the person offense category.

Percentage of formally handled cases judicially waived to criminal court, 1998:

Offense	Male	Female
Delinquency	0.9%	0.3%
Person	1.5	0.4
Property	0.9	0.3
Drugs	1.2	0.5
Public order	0.4	0.1

For delinquency cases overall, a larger proportion of cases involving black youth was waived than cases involving white youth or youth of other races. More specifically, black youth were more likely to be waived than other youth for person and drug offenses. For white youth and youth of other races, waiver was most likely in person offense cases; for black youth, it was most likely in drug offense cases.

Racial differences in waiver stem primarily from differences in
the use of waiver for person and drug offense cases

• Both whites and blacks experienced sharp increases in person cases waived between 1989 and 1994; and substantially fewer person cases waived in 1998 than in 1994.

• The likelihood of waiver was greater for black than for white juveniles in each of the four general offense categories. These data, however, do not control for racial differences in offense seriousness within those categories or in juveniles’ offense histories.

Source: Author's adaptation of Puzzanchera et al.'s Juvenile Court Statistics 1998.

Percentage of formally handled cases judicially waived to criminal court, 1998:

Offense	White	Black	Other races
Delinquency	0.7%	1.0%	0.8%
Person	1.1	1.4	2.2
Property	0.8	0.8	0.4
Drugs	0.6	2.0	0.4
Public order	0.2	0.4	0.4
Note: All racial groups include Hispanics.

In general, cases involving younger juveniles were less likely to be waived than were cases involving older juveniles. This was true for each of the four general offense categories and across racial groups.

Percentage of formally handled cases judicially waived to criminal court, 1998: