Under the Virginia law, a child of 15 or older who is charged with a felony can be transferred to criminal court. This study sought to identify the legal and extralegal factors that make it more likely that a juvenile offender will be transferred to criminal court. This was accomplished by comparing a sample of 364 serious juvenile offenders who were transferred and convicted in criminal court with 363 offenders who were eligible for transfer but were instead incarcerated within the juvenile justice system in a juvenile learning center. Commitment to a learning center is the most severe sanction available to Virginia's juvenile courts, short of transfer. Variables examined were put into five categories: demographic, current offense, victim-related, drug/alcohol abuse treatment and prior criminal or delinquency record. Thirteen of the factors considered were found to be statistically significant in predicting the outcome of a transfer determination. Among these are the current offense, prior record and commitment history and the age of the offender. 3 tables