Exploring Juvenile Waiver Statutes Across the U.S.

• In Event: Evolving Challenges in Juvenile Justice

Abstract

Many states have punitive oriented policies regarding juvenile waivers to adult courts dating back to the early 1970s, but some do not apply them in practice whereas others still implement these ppolicies as originally intended. Fritsch and Hemmens (1995) compared state juvenile waiver statutes from 1979 to 1995 across the United States. Their comparative analysis highlighted the substantial changes in juvenile waiver statutes during that period reflecting a shift away from the rehabilitative ideals of the juvenile justice system. This study provides a comprehensive description of current similarities and differences in juvenile waiver laws and practices across the United States as well as changes to these state policies since the 1970s. To date, there have been no systematic cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons of state juvenile waiver policies involving types of juvenile waivers, numbers of juveniles waived by state, and numbers of juveniles incarcerated in adult prisons by state. In particular, longitudinal (within-state) descriptions are important for establishing whether more punitive trends in the processing of juvenile offenders have continued.

Authors

• Symone Pate, University of Cincinnati

• John Wooldredge, University of Cincinnati