NCJ Number
105140
Date Published
1986
Length
44 pages
Annotation
An analysis of the characteristics of juveniles prosecuted in adult court used data on all 321 juveniles and 341 cases that were waived, direct filed, or automatically transferred to adult court in 12 jurisdictions during the first 6 months of 1985.
Abstract
The typical transferred juvenile was male, black, and age 17 or over. His case was most likely to involve robbery (30 percent), burglary (23.8 percent), felony sexual assault (9 percent), murder (8.7 percent), or other felony assault (7 percent). The majority (58.6 percent) had at least two prior adjudications, and 49.8 percent had already experienced the most severe sanctions imposed by the juvenile justice system. Once in the adult system, 66.2 percent of the disposed cases resulted in a finding or plea of guilty. More than 75 percent of those convicted were sentenced to prison or jail. The average prison sentence was 6.8 years, a contrast from anecdotal evidence indicating that juveniles are considered 'instant virgins' in the adult court. Findings are even more noteworthy in view of the fact that the 57 cases not yet disposed of included many serious charges. The characteristics of juveniles and cases varied according to the mechanism used for transfer to adult court. Variations among jurisdictions were also found. Data tables, appended study instrument, and 10 references.