Transferring Juveniles to Criminal Courts: Trends and Implications for Criminal Justice

This volume provides a study of the juvenile transfer process. Criminal justice’s get tough policy has led to greater use of this process which, on the surface, transfers persistent juvenile offenders to criminal court jurisdiction in order to impose more serious penalties. The implications of this growing phenomenon are increasingly important for both the juvenile and criminal court systems. Champion and Mays’ analysis includes descriptions of juvenile courts, types of offenders processed by these courts and characteristic outcomes of transfers. Examining the transfer process, they explore social and legal definitions of delinquency; goals and functions of transfers; legal rights of juveniles; and the implications of possible penalties, such as the death penalty. Questions such as whether transfers necessarily result in harsher punishment are also discussed. Transferring Juveniles to Criminal Courts is designed for students majoring in criminal justice, public administration, political science, sociology and psychology.