NCJ Number
95979
Date Published
1984
Length
79 pages
Annotation
Data on several samples of young males arrested for either armed robbery or residential burglary -- Los Angeles County, Clark County (Las Vegas), and King County (Seattle) -- were examined to determine the relative sentence severity for young adult offenders and the degree to which their juvenile records affect their sentencing.
Abstract
The data collected included the characteristics of the alleged offense, the subject's juvenile and adult criminal record, and the case disposition. In all three sites, the presentence investigation reports prepared following a felony conviction contain detailed descriptions of the defendant's prior juvenile record. There was no evidence in any of the sites of consistent leniency toward young adult defendants. Both juveniles and young adult defendants with extensive juvenile records were generally sentenced more severely in all sites than those with less serious records. Consideration of juvenile records at the time of sentencing only may provide sufficient discrimination between chronic and occasional offenders, as was shown by the Las Vegas sentencing patterns. The fact that conviction rates in Las Vegas consistently increased with increases in the severity of juvenile records, however, suggests that some information about juvenile records may be obtained earlier in the proceedings. An unresolved issue is disclosure of juvenile record information to the criminal court -- whether it is appropriate to use this unsubstantiated information, and, if so, how it is to be used.