Juvenile Transfers to Criminal Court in the 1990's: Lessons Learned From Four Studies

Juvenile Transfers to Criminal Court in the 1990's:
Lessons Learned From Four Studies

Table of Contents

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Transfer mechanisms

Prior research on transfer

Four studies of juvenile transfers to criminal court in the 1990’s

Findings: What criteria are used in the transfer decision?

Findings: Did the nature of transfer decisionmaking change during the 1980’s and 1990’s over and above changes in legislation?

Findings: What was the impact of new legislation that excludes additional offenders from juvenile court jurisdiction?

Background

Transfer mechanisms

Judicial waiver (the juvenile court judge)

Statutory exclusion (the legislature)

Concurrent jurisdiction (the prosecutor)

Prior research on transfer

Site selection

Method overview

Research questions

What criteria are used in the transfer decision?

Did the transfer decisionmaking criteria change during the 1980’s and 1990’s over and above changes in legislation?

What was the impact of new legislation that excludes additional offenders from juvenile court jurisdiction?

South Carolina Waiver, 1985–94

Study overview

South Carolina’s waiver provisions

South Carolina data collection

South Carolina findings

Waiver requests

Waiver decision criteria

Case dispositions

Utah Waiver, 1988–95

Study overview

Utah’s transfer provisions

Utah data collection

Utah findings

Waiver requests

Waiver decision criteria

Case dispositions

Pennsylvania Waiver, 1986 Versus 1994

Study overview

Pennsylvania’s waiver provisions

Pennsylvania waiver data collection

Pennsylvania waiver findings

Pennsylvania Exclusions, 1996

Study overview

Pennsylvania’s exclusion provisions

Data collection on Pennsylvania’s exclusions

Pennsylvania exclusion findings

Conclusions

References

Appendix A

Appendix B

OJJDP Publications

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Juvenile Transfers to Criminal Court in the 1990's:
Lessons Learned From Four Studies
August 2000