The 1990s saw concerted legislative efforts to increase the mechanisms through which juveniles could be transferred to the adult court. Beginning research exists on how the public feels about transferring youths out of the juvenile justice system, but it is somewhat dated and does little to illuminate the reasons people support transfer. Using a…

Sentencing juveniles to life-without-parole (JLWOP) is a practice fraught with ethical dilemmas. Through in-depth interviews with 11 men living sentences of JLWOP, their narratives of their backgrounds and experiences as juveniles were studied. Common themes were identified, and 3 general categories of cases emerged from the narratives. Ethical…

In 2005, the United States Supreme Court, judging it to be cruel and unusual punishment, ended the execution of juvenile offenders. But the practice of sentencing juveniles to prison for life without the possibility of parole presents a much more widespread problem. Presumably future courts will revisit the question of whether growing up in prison…

In "Roper v. Simmons," the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the sentencing of juveniles to death violated the constitutional amendment against cruel and unusual punishment. Similarly, the Court most recently decided that life without parole for non-homicide offenses is also unconstitutional ("Graham v. Florida," 2010). Part of the reason for the…

This report, written for state legislators, law enforcers, and researchers, presents the results and recommendations of a study of youth crime and juvenile justice in California. Part I, The Control of Youth Crime in California Today, discusses juvenile crime rates, the processing of juvenile arrests, and arrest disposition patterns. Part II, The…

This book examines what is wrong with the U.S. juvenile court system and proposes an alternative model for youth crime control and child welfare. Under this model, states would try all offenders in an integrated criminal justice system with appropriate modifications to accommodate younger offenders. The chapters are: (1) "The Social…

Presented here are suggestions by the Community Service Society of New York to the 1981 New York State Leqislature regarding state government's obligations to the poor and disadvantaged. The three recommendations that receive priority in the report are calls for increasing the public assistance grant, financing the Child Welfare Reform Act, and…

Explores the changes in the juvenile court system, in particular, the juvenile waiver and sentencing laws, as it transformed from a social welfare agency into a type of criminal court system for young offenders. Addresses whether states should create an integrated juvenile and criminal justice system. (CMK)

This overview of recent state juvenile justice reform measures and identifies issues and trends associated with state juvenile reform initiatives. The report explains some of the more punitive measures, such as new criminal court transfer authority and expanded juvenile court sentencing options. Many states have balanced these steps with enhanced…

The United States' high incarceration rate gets a lot of attention from scholars, policy makers, and the public. Yet the most common form of criminal justice supervision is not imprisonment but probation--and that is just as true for juveniles as for adults. Probation was originally promoted as an alternative to imprisonment that would spare…

This document analyzes the sentencing of young adult defendants in comparison with older adult and younger juvenile offenders, and disputes prior research which held that young adults received more lenient sentencing, perhaps because of the restrictions on disclosing juvenile delinquency histories. The document presents data from samples of young…

This staff brief discusses the juvenile justice system in five states which have enacted specific statutory provisions directed at the violent and chronic juvenile offender. Approaches adopted by California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Washington are described which include: (1) various ways of automatically waiving or transferring youths…

Educators need to understand the juvenile justice system to understand what juvenile offenders go through while completing their sentences. This article reviews cases and juvenile charge classifications, and presents a model for alternative sentencing options for juveniles. (JOW)

This brief report presents preliminary data on the attitudes of judges on the sentencing of offenders with High Functioning Autism (HFA). Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with twenty-one California Superior Court Judges. Interviews were qualitatively coded and constant comparative analysis was utilized. Findings revealed that…

The University of New Mexico's Institute for Social Research operates eight centers that conduct policy-related research on criminal justice, criminology, delinquency, and social problems. Projects have focused on inequities in criminal sentencing in New Mexico, juveniles' access to and use of guns, New Mexico's need for a juvenile prison, and the…