David Myers
Professor Of Criminal Justice, University Of New Haven
Key Findings
- The overall effect of transferring a juvenile to adult court and recidivism in the juvenile was insignificant.
- For violent felony recidivism, there was a significant criminogenic effect, meaning an increase of criminal activity for juveniles that were transferred to adult courts.
- A significant criminogenic effect was found for juveniles who were transferred into adult court with a judicial waiver.
Description
In the article,”Juvenile Transfer to Adult Court,” Myers examines the popularization of transferring juveniles into adult court in the 1990s to determine its efficacy and success by using an evidence-based approach. Transferring juveniles into adult courts was based on the idea of deterrence, both by deterring other juveniles from committing crime and the juvenile from reoffending as the risks are greater than the reward. Another juvenile criminal justice technique, traditional juvenile court philosophy, focuses on rehabilitation of juvenile offenders and individual intervention to prevent them from offending in adulthood. Myers conducted his research using a meta-analysis of nine studies to analyze overall trends in juvenile transfer to adult court. The results of the meta-analysis showed that transferring juveniles showed neutral effects in the sample as the results across the studies were varied. Two of the nine studies were more current and used propensity scores to study the effects of juvenile transfer into adult courts and found that it decreased the likelihood of recidivism. Even so, the overall effect of transferring to adult court and recidivism in juveniles was insignificant. For violent felony recidivism, there was a significant criminogenic effect, meaning an increase of criminal activity for juveniles that were transferred to adult courts. A significant criminogenic effect was found for juveniles who were transferred into adult court with a judicial waiver. In conclusion, Myers noted there is a need for more research to determine the effects of transferring juveniles into adult court and what types of interventions are most successful to reduce recidivism in juveniles.