NCJ Number
95387
Date Published
1983
Length
45 pages
Annotation
This document summarizes the four succeeding volumes in the series, and focuses on the results of reform legislation implemented in Washington State in 1978 to hold juveniles accountable for their crimes while holding the system accountable for what it does to juveniles.
Abstract
Several aspects of the law are especially significant. First, sentences are presumptive and determinate, and are proportionate to the seriousness of the immediate offense, the age of the youth, and the prior criminal history. Second, responsibility for intake to the juvenile system has been shifted to the prosecutor's office for all felony cases and for misdemeanor incidents. Third, the law establishes community-based diversion programs for juvenile offenders in lieu of formal processing. Finally, juveniles can no longer be brought under the jurisdiction of the court for commission of status offenses. Several concepts of a justice philosophy are pertinent to an understanding of the law: limitation on the right to punishment, uniformity in punishment, and justification of punishment. Data from juvenile case records and from interviews with agency representatives and with directors of crisis residences indicate that the postreform era had a much better record of holding juveniles accountable for their offenses. Also, sentences in the postreform era were found to be consistently more uniform, more consistent, and more proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and the youth's prior criminal record than were earlier sentences. Two figures and a 13-item bibliography are included. For the other volumes, see NCJ 95388-91.