Immaturity and Fair Opportunity

There is a moral asymmetry between juvenile and adult offenders if, all else being equal, juveniles should be punished less for their offenses than their adult counterparts should be punished. The trend to transfer juveniles to adult criminal court denies this asymmetry. Developmental and democratic rationales for the asymmetry are distinguished, and the developmental rationale is shown to be more basic. The developmental rationale for the asymmetry is reflected in Supreme Court cases in the United States recognizing constitutional limitations on sentences for juvenile offenders. These cases pose interesting questions about the tension between categorical sentencing rules and individualized justice.

Juvenile Justice and Plea Bargaining

As with adult criminal court cases, almost all juvenile and criminal court cases involving youth are resolved by guilty plea. This chapter reviews the extant research on youth defendants and guilty pleas. The focus is on three areas: (1) the circumstances surrounding guilty plea decisions (e.g., access to attorneys, time to make decisions); (2) youths’ knowledge about guilty plea decisions and whether they are made voluntarily; and (3) the rationales underlying guilty plea decisions. Additionally, across these three areas the chapter addresses plea decision-making by guilty and innocent juvenile defendants, highlighting the similarities and differences. The chapter concludes with a call for future research and implications for juveniles involved in the juvenile or adult criminal justice systems.

Sentencing Transferred Juveniles in the Adult Criminal Court

Much prior research has demonstrated that race and ethnicity are associated with harsher punishment outcomes among adult defendants in the criminal court. However, few studies have explored these disparities in the sentencing of juvenile offenders who have been transferred to the adult court, and this research has reported conflicting findings. Moreover, the ways in which offenders’ race and ethnicity may interact with their sex, age, and offense type have yet to be explored among this population. Analysis of defendants sentenced in Florida ( N = 30,913) reveals that Black transferred juveniles are more likely to be sentenced to jail or prison and are given longer prison sentences than Whites, but Hispanic youth are only penalized in the sentence to jail. Interaction analyses suggest that Black males are sentenced particularly harshly regardless of age, and the effects of race and ethnicity are conditioned by a violent, sex, or drug offense.

The Problem of Incarcerating Juveniles with Adults

Currently, all states allow juveniles who commit certain offenses to be waived from jurisdiction of the juvenile court to be tried and sentenced in adult criminal court. This essay reviews approaches for housing juvenile offenders in adult correctional facilities (i.e., straight adult incarceration, graduated incarceration, and segregated incarceration) and the special considerations for prison management and service delivery. The essay begins with a summary of the history of juvenile justice, focusing primarily on transfer to adult court and subsequent adult incarceration. Next, a description of the number of youths facing adult punishment is provided. The experiences of youths inside adult incarceration facilities and the effects of transfer to adult court on postrelease recidivism are discussed, followed by a review of individual states’ approaches to housing youths in adult prisons.