Waiver of Jurisdiction

Abstract

A critical evaluation of the waiver process identifies certain inconsistencies between the goals and methods of the juvenile court movement and points out the difficulties resulting from procedures that attempt to reconcile the goals of punishment and rehabilitation. Several popular explanations for the use of the waiver process are examined and found insufficient to justify removing children from the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. Other motives for the waiver process are offered for considera tion. The juvenile court movement is seen as an experiment in criminal justice, and the waiver process as a safety valve for the release of community pressures which threaten the experiment. The juvenile who is waived becomes the target for the court's frustrations and the scapegoat upon whom the accumulated guilt of the community is piled. A dispassionate reconsideration of the waiver process in the light of the issues raised may lead to its abandonment.