NCJ Number
171496
Journal
Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review Volume: 30 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1995) Pages: 507-542
Date Published
1995
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This Note examines the legal and policy implications of juvenile transfer laws.
Abstract
The Note documents the evolution of the juvenile justice system and its unique rehabilitative mandate, including the attacks aimed at the system since its inception. It explores the central component of the juvenile justice system, which is the focus on the individual juvenile, describes children in the system and briefly examines their routes to criminality and violence. In this context, the article claims that the juvenile justice system can treat delinquent juveniles and prevent crime only if it explores who the children are and understands their path to delinquency. The Note also presents and analyzes the three basic transfer models -- prosecutorial discretion, statutory exclusion, and judicial waiver -- and critiques prosecutorial discretion and statutory exclusion for inappropriately transferring juveniles. Finally, the Note argues that judicial waiver, properly applied, is the only sound juvenile transfer policy; it focuses on the individual juvenile and emphasizes rehabilitation. Notes