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Monday, February 6, 2012

Essay on Jurisdictional Transfer of Juvenile Offenders to Adult Criminal Justice System

Several decades ago the juvenile justice system was created. Its purpose is to create a separate justice system for the juvenile offenders. This is in view of the realization that punishing juvenile offenders in the same manner as adult offenders may even be more harmful to the development of the juvenile and makes them hardened criminals.

It became clear that a juvenile justice system was necessary in order to avoid the situation where the juveniles become hardened criminals after serving their sentence.

However, ever since the creation of the juvenile justice system there are arguments saying that it is ineffective in achieving its purpose which is to rehabilitate and reform juvenile offenders. As a result, there are those who are actively seeking the transfer of jurisdiction of juveniles to adult offenders.

Jurisdictional transfer or the transfer of jurisdiction of juveniles from the juvenile courts to adult courts is not new. In fact, ever since the creation of the juvenile justice system, judges have been given the discretion to transfer the jurisdiction of juveniles to adult courts.

The only difference is the mechanism by which the transfer can be made. States have different laws under which a juvenile can be transferred to adult courts. Regardless of their difference, there is one trend that is noticeable. The present laws have made it easier for judges to transfer jurisdiction over juvenile offender from juvenile courts to adult courts.

This is because of the sudden increase in the juvenile crime rate which started during the 1980s and the early period of 1990s. Fear of the super predators led to the public clamor for stricter laws against juvenile offenders. The public wanted for greater punishment and greater accountability of juvenile offenders.

As a result of the public clamor for greater accountability for juvenile offenders, in the 1990s various laws were passed designed to impose stricter punishment against juvenile offenders. Among these laws were judicial transfer laws, prosecutorial discretion and statutory exclusion.

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