NCJ Number
125923
Journal
Juvenile and Family Law Digest Volume: 22 Issue: 10 Dated: (October 1990) Pages: 328-332
Editor(s)
L G Arthur
Date Published
1990
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Three court decisions in Oklahoma, Massachusetts, and Vermont ruled on whether a juvenile may be certified to stand trial as an adult, whether judges may consider lack of remorse in determining whether a juvenile is tried as an adult, and whether the court may sequester juvenile records from public view.
Abstract
In Oklahoma, the court found that the State has the burden of proving a child is not amenable to juvenile treatment in certifying whether a juvenile can stand trial as an adult. The court specifically ruled that a juvenile can be certified to stand trial as an adult based on two findings by the trial court: there is prosecutive merit to the complaint, i.e., a finding that a crime has been committed and probable cause to believe the accused juvenile committed it; and the juvenile is not amenable to rehabilitation within the existing juvenile system. In Massachusetts, the court ruled that a judge can consider the lack of remorse in determining certification for trial as a juvenile or as an adult. In Vermont, juvenile records are available by statute to the court at juvenile certification hearings to show the child's history, but the courts may sequester the records from public view. The records confidentiality issue in Vermont is based in part on the juvenile justice system serving rehabilitative rather than punitive goals.