NCJ Number
119261
Date Published
1988
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This section details amendments to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Act of 1974 made by the Federal Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, with special emphasis on retaining Federal jurisdiction over juvenile offenders when the Federal government has a substantial interest in the offenses charged and expanding Federal powers to prosecute older juveniles charged with serious offenses in regular adult criminal proceedings rather than in juvenile delinquency proceedings.
Abstract
Three significant procedural amendments accompany the jurisdictional changes authorized by the statute. First, if the juvenile transferred to adult court is convicted of a lesser-included offense that would not have supported the original transfer, he or she will be dealt with as an adjudicated delinquent and not as a convicted adult. Second, no proceedings against a juvenile may commence until the clerk of the court has received the juvenile's prior juvenile court records and has certified that the juvenile has no prior record or that the records are not available and the reasons for the unavailability are cited. Third, the court must describe in both court records and juvenile's records the specific acts committed by the juvenile. 30 footnotes.