NCJ Number
95405
Date Published
1981
Length
22 pages
Annotation
In two California counties studied, transferring juveniles to the adult court for trial constitutes more severe treatment than allowing them to remain within the juvenile court.
Abstract
Data came from the 874 cases subjected to transfer hearings in Los Angeles and Alameda counties in 1976 and 1977. In both counties, the conviction rates for the cases transferred to adult court and those retained for the juvenile court were equivalent, contradicting the common belief that conviction is easier in juvenile court. Once convicted, however, offenders were more likely to be incarcerated by the adult court system than by the juvenile system. Furthermore, in adult court about half the incarcerations were in adult institutions. Findings cannot be generalized to small, rural counties with low levels of crime. Similarly, these results might not occur with a wholesale transfer of jurisdiction to adult courts for juveniles charged with serious crimes, as shown by the New York experience described by Roysher and Edelman. This would result in the dismissal or permissive handling of relatively trivial crimes which have serious labels. Appended data tables and a list of 1O references are supplied. (Author summary modified)