Impact of Juvenile Reference in Minnesota

• NCJ Number: 80489
• Author(s): L Sommerer; D Opp
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 33 pages
• Corporate Author: Minnesota Crime Control Planning Board
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Recent statutory changes affecting the referral of juvenile cases to adult court in Minnesota are explained, and the methodology for measuring the impact of these changes is described.

Abstract

During the 71st Minnesota legislative session, a bill was passed that made substantial changes in the operations of the juvenile court. One of these changes involves the reference or certification procedure. Generally, the amendment provides guidelines (age and offense matrix) to be used by the juvenile court in determining which cases should be transferred to the adult court. Further, the burden of proof for reference is no longer the responsibility of the prosecuting authority. Unless the defense can show cause why the juvenile should not be referred to the adult court, it can be assumed that those juveniles whose age and offense meet the guidelines will be referred to the adult court. Issues that will be addressed in the research to determine the impact of this change are whether the number of certifications has increased significantly, whether the guidelines have produced more uniformity in the type of juvenile cases being transferred to the adult system, and whether public safety is being better served by the change. Other issues involve whether the juvenile court has become more adversarial, whether the legal defense for juveniles has increased, whether the time needed to process a case through the juvenile court has increased, and whether the guidelines provide clearer standards for the reference procedure. These issues are to be analyzed through the collection of baseline data from a period prior to the statutory change, with these data to be compared with similar data from a period after the change. Data sources to be used are listed. Appended are a tentative timetable for the research, the reference statute prior to August 1, 1980, a summary of the data base for study of the juvenile court population, and counties ranked by secondary school population. Footnotes are included.