Sometimes we hear about an especially heinous crime committed by a 15 or 16-year-old, such as aggravated armed robbery or first-degree murder, and we can see how frustrated the victims of the crime, or even the victim's family can get because of juvenile courts.
Yet, often these juvenile delinquents are tried as adults; depending on the prosecutor. If these children commit adult crimes then they should have to face adult time, so goes the rationale in favor of what is known in the legal system as a "juvenile waiver," as described by FindLaw.
But if the whole point of a criminal sentence is either rehabilitation or deterrence of future crimes, we must ask whether the juvenile waiver is effective.
A panel of health experts assembled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) thinks that the answer is a resounding "no." In fact, the panel of 14 experts (Task Force on Community Preventive Services) released a report (CDC) suggesting that transfering children to adult court has the opposite effect:
Available evidence indicates that transfer to the adult criminal justice system typically increases rather than decreases rates of violence among transferred youth.
Perhaps it has something to do with the abundance of "networking opportunities" with other, more-seasoned criminals that prison provides. The report suggests that juvenile criminal offenders who remain in juvenile court, meanwhile, have a much better chance of turning their lives around.
Illinois and every other state provides for a juvenile waiver, with varying rules and thresholds. The use of such waivers increased in the past several decades, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, partly because criminal gangs often recruit minors for high-risk crimes.
Decisions by prosecutors to charge juveniles as adults usually are based on factors such as the specific facts of the case and the maturity, record and likelihood of rehabilition. Specifically in Illinois, juveniles age 15 or older who violate the state's gun-free-school-zone laws are automatically tried as adults, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). For more information, please visit our Related Resources links.
Related Resources:
- Juvenile Justice: Background (FindLaw)
- Delinquency Cases Waived to Criminal Court, 2005 (PDF, OJJDP)
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What Caused the Increase? (OJJDP)
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Chicago Criminal Attorney Directory (FindLaw)
