Youth violence, particularly the level and lethality of the violent acts, has emerged as a major public concern. The policy option of relocating youthful offenders to criminal court has the goals of greater accountability and stronger deterrence. It is highly questionable if these goals are met. Chapter 1 discusses the origins of juvenile justice, criticisms and reforms, the surge in youth violence, methods of transfer, transfer use and rationale, and juvenile transfer in the State of Pennsylvania. Chapter 2 presents the origins of deterrence theory, deterrence research, and the effect of formal sanctions. Chapter 3 focuses on punishment and deterrence through treating juvenile offenders as adults. Chapter 4 discusses the research agenda, such as hypotheses, data, and methods of a study, on the consequences of transferring violent juvenile offenders to adult criminal court. Chapter 5 presents the bivariate and multivariate results of this study. Chapter 6 presents the qualitative findings. The discussion centers on the effectiveness of legislative waiver, the legislative waiver versus the judicial waiver, the reverse waiver to juvenile court, and alternatives to treating violent youths as adults. Chapter 7 discusses the evidence of a “custody gap,” the lack of a “leniency gap,” policy implications, and recommendations for future research. 14 tables, 258 references, index