NCJ Number
205011
Journal
Punishment & Society Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2004 Pages: 149-173
Date Published
April 2004
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This study examined the interaction between judges and juvenile defendants in a specialized New York City criminal (adult) court that deals almost exclusively with 14 and 15 year-olds who are excluded from juvenile court due to the severity of their offenses.
Abstract
New York's laws mandate that juveniles accused of certain serious offenses are excluded from juvenile court and are to be prosecuted as adults in a criminal court. Some jurisdictions have created specialized criminal courts to try such cases. The data for the current study were obtained from observations of proceedings in such a court in New York City. Interviews were conducted with judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys who serve in the court. Over the course of 6 months, the author observed 290 hearings, including 124 sentencing hearings, 145 regularly scheduled hearings to discuss the status of cases, and 21 hearings in which defendants pled guilty. Two potentially conflicting concepts the courts sought to implement concurrently were proportionality (punishment commensurate with the seriousness of the crime) and the reduced culpability of the offender due to youthfulness. In talking to the juvenile defendants during sentencing, the judges sought to address both their criminal responsibility for what they had done and the mitigating factor of their youthfulness. The tone and content of the judge's address to the defendant was an admonishment that resembled a ceremonial event that has some similarities to the degradation rituals described by Harold Garfunkel, as well as the reintegration ceremonies discussed by John Braithwaite. The judge's admonishment of the juveniles in the New York City court, however, can be distinguished from these two rituals in its primary effort to adapt to the constraints of punishing and sentencing juveniles in an adult criminal court. It is likely that as more and more juveniles are excluded from juvenile court processing by legislative mandate, judicial admonishment will increasingly become a ceremonial way of attempting to impress upon juvenile defendants the seriousness of their offense while imposing a sentence that is less harsh than would be imposed upon an adult who has committed a similar offense. 16 notes and 37 references