NCJ Number
150741
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 22 Issue: 4 Dated: (1994) Pages: 329- 339
Date Published
1994
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Because past research has found that the juvenile waiver decision has been governed by factors not related to the offense or the juvenile, this study investigated whether the decision to waiver in Arizona's Maricopa County Juvenile Court was consistent with its philosophy and policy.
Abstract
The study hypothesized that juveniles who were older, who were charged with more serious or personal offenses, and who had more extensive or serious prior records were most likely to be waived. Data on a cohort of youth born in 1969 who had been referred to the Maricopa County Juvenile Court were supplied by the National Juvenile Court Data Archive of the National Center for Juvenile Justice. Of the sample of 567 youth, 43 (7.6 percent) were waived. Results showed that juveniles who had been waived in a previous offense were most likely to waived again in future referrals. Relative seriousness of the current offense or whether the current offense was against a person did not classify the waived cases. Although juveniles waived to adult court were primarily 16 or 17 years of age, age was not a significant predictor of waiver. Policy implications of the findings for juvenile court waiver decisions are discussed. 24 references, 6 notes, and 8 tables