Overview

Images of youngsters in handcuffs and prison uniforms have become common on the nightly news in the United States. As America's fascination with crime and justice has grown, so has attention to the ways in which youthful offenders are charged, tried, and sentenced. While they may once have been viewed as misguided youth, more and more juveniles are being charged as adults and sentenced to adult prisons. Myers questions whether doing so is an effective deterrent for young offenders, if rehabilitation is out of the question, and if youth and society are better served by sending children away to adult prisons rather than juvenile detention facilities. These questions and others are addressed in this careful analysis of the history and evolution of transfer laws that are increasingly prevalent throughout the United States. The move toward charging juvenile delinquents as adult criminals initially coincided with an increase in violent crimes committed by youthful offenders. However, as such policies have grown and expanded, the methods by which youth are formally treated as adults in the criminal justice system have changed. Here, Myers examines the demographic, legal, criminal, and social characteristics of those youth who are waived to adult courts, assessing the nature, use, and effectiveness of punishment and rehabilitation efforts in modern juvenile and criminal justice systems. He concludes that as long as separate juvenile and adult justice systems are maintained, there will be a desire and perceived need for transferring some youth to adult court. However, he suggests that such transfers should be facilitated on a much more limited basis, while greater resources and funding for prevention and early intervention should be implemented to prevent youth from offending in the first place. This controversial topic receives a thorough accounting in this volume, which will open readers' eyes to the realities of juvenile delinquency and its treatment by the criminal justice system.

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9780275982546

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Reviews

<p> In this exceptional overview of the process of juvenile waivers to adult court, Myers includes a detailed account of the history of the juvenile court system and does an excellent job of discussing the social and political context surrounding increases in transfers. He also gives clear descriptions of types of transfers as well as the process by which transfers occur, with a fair synopsis of prosecutorial and judicial discretion that should be easily understood by undergraduates and others not familiar with the juvenile justice system....Recommended. - <p>Choice

Public pressure has led most U.S. states to pass laws making it easier to waive juvenile offenders to adult criminal court. Myers traces the history of this trend, weighs the underwhelming research support for this policy, and offers a framework for discussing youth violence issues. - Reference & Research Book News In this exceptional overview of the process of juvenile waivers to adult court, Myers includes a detailed account of the history of the juvenile court system and does an excellent job of discussing the social and political context surrounding increases in transfers. He also gives clear descriptions of types of transfers as well as the process by which transfers occur, with a fair synopsis of prosecutorial and judicial discretion that should be easily understood by undergraduates and others not familiar with the juvenile justice system...Recommended. - Choice

Myers has documented the historical, social, and political forces that molded the U.S. justice system's approach to the transfer of juveniles to the criminal justice system....This skillful organization of the history and science of juvenile transfer should give those new to the topic a clear understanding of the issue, while at the same time raising the quality of the debate for those who have been involved in it for years. -Howard N. Snyder, Ph.D., Director of Systems Research National Center for Juvenile Justice

Author Information

David L. Myers is Associate Professor of Criminology and a Dean's Associate in the School of Graduate Studies and Research at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he also directs the Doctoral Program in Criminology and the Center for Research in Criminology. He is a member of the IUP Research Institute Advisory Board and the Institutional Review Board of the National Center for Juvenile Justice, as well as an Associate Editor and Columnist for Criminal Justice Research Reports. He is the author of Excluding Violent Youths from Juvenile Court: The Effectiveness of Legislative Waiver (2001), and his articles have appeared in such journals as Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, Journal of Juvenile Justice and Detention Services, Criminal Justice Review, Justice Research and Policy, and Criminal Justice Studies.

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