NCJ Number
105182
Journal
Youth and Society Volume: 18 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1987) Pages: 302-316
Date Published
1987
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Peer juries represent a relatively new informal adjustment procedure in which age peers make recommendations relating to the disposition of adjudicated youth, usually first offenders with minor offenses, who have volunteered to go before the jury.
Abstract
To evaluate the impact of the peer jury, comparisons were made between the traditional informal adjustment procedure used with 50 youth in Liberty County, Ga., and the peer jury used with 52 youth in Columbia County, Ga. Results show that the informal adjustment procedure was more likely to be used for youth with prior records in Columbia than in Liberty County. Further, although the peer jury handled more second offenders and more serious crimes, the percentage of youth committing subsequent offenses was slightly, although nonsignificantly, lower than for the traditional informal adjustment procedure. This was true for both first-time offenders and second offenders. Results suggest that the peer jury system is at least as effective as traditional informal adjustment techniques and that further evaluative research is warranted. 16 references.