A Five-Year Study of Juvenile Waiver and Adult Sentences: Implications for Policy

Abstract

Despite the widespread transfer of juveniles from juvenile to criminal court in Virginia, there was little empirical knowledge of the exact sen tences juveniles received. This study examines 250 youths in Richmond, Virginia, who were waived into adult court from 1987-1991. Only for serious crimes such as rape or murder does the offender receive a prison time above the mean of five years. Sixteen repeat offenders, over the five-year period, came into the juvenile court and were waived a second time, four were waived three times and two were waived four times. Sixty-five youth (26%) were not guilty or nolo processed. Identification of that particular group of youth was identified by tracking the youth through a case by case, hand by hand method. The paper discusses how this research was put into changes in the policy and practice of dealing with youth. Some of the practices include ISS-KPGB (suspended sen tences based upon keeping the peace and being of good behavior - a con dition similar to probation but with no cost to the state for a probation officer), retention of adult classification once waived, decrease in the dis cretion of criminal judges by use of sentencing guidelines, and a three-tier certification or transfer process. Implications for incarcerating more juvenile offenders for longer periods and redefining more of them as adults is also discussed.