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Juvenile Pathways into the Criminal Justice System

Juvenile Pathways into the Criminal Justice System. Patrick Griffin October 2011 OJJDP National Conference. Youth under 18 reach the criminal justice system by way of 3 basic types of laws:. Jurisdictional age laws in some states set the entry level for criminal processing below age 18

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Juvenile Pathways into the Criminal Justice System

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  1. Juvenile Pathways into the Criminal Justice System Patrick Griffin October 2011OJJDP National Conference

  2. Youth under 18 reach the criminal justice system by way of 3 basic types of laws: • Jurisdictional age laws in some states set the entry level for criminal processing below age 18 • Transfer laws in all states allow or require some juvenile-age offenders to be prosecuted “as adults” in criminal court • Blended sentencing laws in some states expose some juvenile offenders to the risk of criminal penalties

  3. In 12 states, youth become criminally responsible before reaching 18

  4. Transfer laws provide for criminal prosecution of youth who would otherwise be juveniles • Judicial waiver laws • Prosecutorial discretion/concurrent jurisdiction laws • Statutory exclusion laws • “Once an adult/always an adult” laws

  5. 46 states have judicial waiver provisions

  6. 15 states have prosecutorial discretion provisions

  7. 29 states have statutory exclusion provisions

  8. 34 states have “Once an adult, always an adult” laws

  9. Blended Sentencing • Juvenile blended sentencing laws give juvenile courts the power to impose criminal penalties • Usually suspended/conditional • But increases youth exposure to risk of criminal correctional handling

  10. 14 states have juvenile blended sentencing laws

  11. How many under-18 youth are processed in the criminal system? Pieces of the puzzle: • Criminally processed youth in states with lower entry ages • Judicially waived youth • Youth charged directly in criminal court

  12. The criminal processing impact of jurisdictional age laws can be roughly estimated • In 2007, 2.2 million under-18 “adults” resided in 13 states with lower jurisdictional age laws • Assuming they were referred to criminal court at the same rate their peers in other states were referred to juvenile court… • 247,000/year

  13. The National Juvenile Court Data Archive generates waiver estimates • Total number: 8,500 in 2007 • Less than 1% of delinquency cases • Offense profile • About half of cases involve person offenses • Demographics • 16 or older (85%) • Trends • Waivers down 35% since 1994

  14. But no data support national estimates regarding non-waiver transfers • No national datasets on transfers by way of statutory exclusion or concurrent jurisdiction • Judicial waiver of diminishing importance relative to other mechanisms • Much harder to keep track of non-waiver transfers

  15. Some Things We Don’t Know: • How many are transferred • Transfer offenses • Age, sex, race, ethnicity, etc. • What happens after transfer • Convictions • Sentences • Imprisonment

  16. Transfer Data Project • Identify states with incomplete or missing information • Based on individual state transfer laws/mechanisms, locate key decision-makers and likely data keepers • Document available data sources • Product: state-by-state report on currently available transfer data, with recommended steps for filling in and improving the national data picture

  17. 13 states publicly report their total annual transfers

  18. 10 states publicly report some but not all transfers

  19. 14 states report only to the Juvenile Court Data Archive

  20. 14 states do not report transfers at all

  21. Of 29 statutory exclusion states…

  22. Only 2 states report the total number excluded

  23. 4 others report a combined total (all criminally prosecuted youth)

  24. Of 15 prosecutorial discretion states…

  25. Only 1 reports the total number of youth prosecuted at DA’s option

  26. 3 others report a combined total (all criminally prosecuted youth)

  27. Only a few states report significant details about transfer cases • Total volume: 13 states • Pathways: 5 states • Demographics 8 states • Offenses: 3 states • Processing outcomes: 1 state

  28. How many transfers can we account for in 2007? • 32 (out of 46) judicial waiver states reported 6092 waivers to the Data Archive • National estimate: 8,500 • 6 (out of 36) states with non-judicial transfer reported 5096 other transfers • 1 state provided NCJJ with 2007 information on about 20transfers

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