The research analyzed data from two sources. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Institutional Division provided data on the 521 youths waived to adult court in Texas from 1987 to 1993 and subsequently sentenced to prison. The second data set involved the 358 juveniles sentenced to the Texas Youth Commission under a determinate sentence from 1987 to 1993. Results revealed that both groups consistently received longer terms of incarceration than were available through normal juvenile justice processing. However, this finding changed when actual time served was taken into consideration. A discriminant analysis revealed that juveniles determinately sentenced in juvenile court were more likely to be younger and to receive and serve shorter sentences that were juveniles waived to adult court and sentenced to prison. Tables, notes, list of laws cited, and 34 references (Author abstract modified)