The chapter shows that a period of extensive and rapid reform has produced large increases in the number of juvenile offenders prosecuted and convicted in criminal courts and exposed to adult sanctions. Many of these offenders are not chronic, hardened criminals who have repeatedly demonstrated their resistance to intervention. The entry of large numbers of youth into the criminal justice system has significant systemic consequences. It places additional burdens on already overtaxed courts and corrections system. The expansion of transfer through legislative exclusions and prosecutorial waiver has created new problems of interagency articulation and may precipitate repercussive effects in the juvenile justice system that have not been previously addressed. Further, the authors argue that as a crime control policy, transfer tends to be counterproductive. Although the empirical studies on this issue are too few to be definitive, they strongly suggest that transfer is more likely to aggravate recidivism than to stem it. The authors suggest that this effect is a product of several factors, including the sense of injustice young offenders associate with criminal court processing, the multiple criminogenic effects of incarceration in the adult system, and the stigmatization and opportunity blockage that flow from a record of criminal conviction. Compared to the criminal justice system, the juvenile system seems to be more reintegrative in practice and effect. 119 references and 37 notes