Walk Like a Man: Do Juveniles Offenders Respond to Being Tried as Adult?

• In Event: Research on the Effects of Juvenile Transfer and Jurisdictional Boundaries

Abstract

Juvenile crime continues to be a challenging problem in the United States, with a juvenile murder rate that is nearly five times higher than in other developed countries. Due to the large number of violent crimes, many states have adopted laws that allow youth under age 18 to be prosecuted, tried, and sentenced as adults for particular violent crimes. In this paper we consider whether such laws are effective in deterring juvenile crime utilizing Measure 11 in Oregon, a public referendum that imposed mandatory minimum punishments for violent crimes for all offenders over the age of 15. We test whether adult prosecution of juveniles deters crime using the dates of birth and offense from administrative records on all juvenile crimes committed from 1998-2010 in Oregon. We find some evidence that harsher punishments deter crime and that the decreases in crime are concentrated in assaults and robberies, with no deterrence effect for sexual crimes.

Authors

• Benjamin Hansen, University of Oregon

• Glen R. Waddell, University of Oregon