NCJ Number
149454
Date Published
1994
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This report recommends a long-term effort to reduce violent juvenile crimes, starting with an expansion and redirection of existing resources to more effective crime prevention efforts and also including sanctions that hold violent juvenile offenders fully accountable and renew the commitment to the rehabilitation of violent juvenile offenders.
Abstract
The report opposes measures such as mandatory juvenile court waiver or the restriction of juvenile court jurisdiction. It reviews research indicating that criminal courts do not impose greater sanctions than juvenile courts on violent juvenile offenders, that juvenile courts are more likely to impose sanctions than adult courts, and that juveniles do not have high rates of recidivism. Recommended measures for the small number of repeat violent offenders include providing adequate resources for thorough diagnostic assessments and individualized dispositions, rational guidelines for transferring certain violent juvenile offenders to adult criminal court, and opening the juvenile court to the public for fact-finding hearings involving violent juvenile crime and transfers to criminal court. Further actions should include providing juvenile court records to police and criminal courts, expanding local community-based secure and nonsecure programs for violent juvenile offenders, developing better programs for re-entry into the community, and improving and expanding training and technical assistance programs for juvenile justice professionals. Press release, background report and recommendations, and 12 references