Excluding Violent Youths from Juvenile Court: The Effectiveness of Legislative Waiver (Criminal Justice: Recent Scholarship)

Legislative waivers excluding youths from juvenile court have expanded. Meyers studied data on 557 youths judicially waived in Pennsylvania in 1994. Those sent to adult court were more likely to be released from custody prior to disposition of their cases. Of those released, waived juveniles exhibited greater recidivism during the pre-dispositional time period than did those facing juvenile court. Despite the more severe sanctions of adult court, transferred offenders again displayed greater recidivism during the post-dispositional follow-up period. Finally, qualitative interviews with justice officials corroborated statistical results. The findings suggest a more selective approach to excluding youths from juvenile court.