Juvenile Justice: Juveniles Processed In Criminal Court and Case
Dispositions (Letter Report, 08/15/95, GAO/GGD-95-170).

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the frequency with
which juveniles have been sent to criminal court, focusing on: (1)
juvenile conviction rates and sentences in criminal court; (2)
dispositions of juvenile cases in juvenile court; and (3) conditions of
confinement for juveniles incarcerated in adult correctional facilities.

GAO found that: (1) less than 2 percent of the juvenile delinquency
cases filed in juvenile court from 1988 through 1992 were transferred to
criminal court; (2) in states that permitted prosecutor direct filing,
between 1 and 13 percent of the juvenile cases were referred directly to
criminal court; (3) state laws that excluded certain juveniles from
juvenile court jurisdiction mainly focused on violent offenses or
juveniles with previous court records; (4) new state laws have generally
increased the frequency in which juveniles are sent to criminal court by
either decreasing the age or increasing the types of offenses for which
juveniles may be sent to criminal court; (5) juveniles in six of the
seven states studied tended to be convicted when prosecuted in criminal
court, most often for property offenses; (6) between 3 to 50 percent of
the juveniles convicted of serious violent offenses received probation;
(7) in four of the seven states, juvenile incarceration rates for
violent, property, and drug offenses were between 62 and 100 percent;
(8) in the 744,000 formal delinquency cases filed in 1992, 43 percent of
the juveniles received probation, 27 percent of the cases were
dismissed, 17 percent of the juveniles were placed in residential
treatment, 12 percent received other disposition, and 1 percent were
transferred to criminal court; and (9) in three of the states studied,
the juveniles sentenced to adult prisons were housed in separate
prisons, but health, recreation, and educational services were
equivalent in all seven states' facilities.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  GGD-95-170
     TITLE:  Juvenile Justice: Juveniles Processed In Criminal Court and 
             Case Dispositions
      DATE:  08/15/95
   SUBJECT:  Juvenile status offenders
             Courtroom proceedings
             State law
             Juvenile delinquency
             Jurisdictional authority
             Convictions
             Criminal procedure
             Crimes or offenses
             Correctional facilities

             
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Cover
================================================================ COVER


Report to Congressional Requesters

August 1995

JUVENILE JUSTICE - JUVENILES
PROCESSED IN CRIMINAL COURT AND
CASE DISPOSITIONS

GAO/GGD-95-170

Juvenile Case Dispositions


Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV

  BJS - Bureau of Justice Statistics
  CY - calendar year
  CYA - California Youth Authority
  GED - Graduate Equivalency Diploma
  HIV - Human Immunodeficiency Virus
  OBTS - Offender Based Transaction Statistics
  NCJJ - National Center for Juvenile Justice
  NJRP - National Judicial Reporting Program
  NJCDA - National Juvenile Court Data Archive
  OJJDP - Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and
     Delinquency Prevention

Letter
=============================================================== LETTER


B-259800

August 15, 1995

The Honorable Orrin G.  Hatch
Chairman
The Honorable Joseph R.  Biden, Jr.
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on the Judiciary
United States Senate

The Honorable William F.  Goodling
Chairman
The Honorable William L.  Clay
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunity
House of Representatives

The 1992 reauthorization (P.L.  102-586) of the Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (P.L.  93-415) mandated that we
study issues related to juveniles sent to criminal court versus
juvenile court.  We agreed with your Committees to obtain data on (1)
the frequency with which juveniles have been sent to criminal court,
(2) the juvenile conviction rates and sentences in criminal court,
(3) the dispositions of juvenile cases in juvenile court, and (4) the
conditions of confinement for juveniles incarcerated in adult
correctional facilities.  In addition, we agreed to provide a summary
of state laws that specify the circumstances under which juveniles
can be sent to criminal court. 

According to the Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), juveniles are committing increasing
numbers of serious crimes such as murder and aggravated assaults. 
The number of juvenile court cases involving these offenses increased
by 68 percent from 1988 to 1992.  Each state has at least one of
three methods--judicial waiver, prosecutor direct filing, statutory
exclusion (state laws requiring the transfer of juveniles for certain
crimes)--available for transferring juveniles to criminal court.  In
recent years, many states have changed their laws to expand the
criteria under which juveniles may be sent to criminal court. 

Due to the increasing numbers of juveniles sent to criminal court and
legislative changes, juvenile justice advocates, experts, and
officials have raised concerns about the number of juveniles being
tried in criminal court. 


   RESULTS IN BRIEF
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :1

Data limitations precluded us from determining the number of
juveniles sent to criminal court nationwide.  However, we were able
to obtain some nationwide data on the number of judicial waivers.  In
addition, we obtained some state data on the number of prosecutor
direct filing cases.  Data on the number of statutory exclusion cases
were not available. 

Our analysis of nationwide estimates from the National Center for
Juvenile Justice (NCJJ)\1 showed that juvenile court judges
transferred to criminal court less than 2 percent of juvenile
delinquency cases that were filed in juvenile court from 1988 through
1992.  Over that period, cases transferred by judges increased from
1.2 to 1.6 percent of formal delinquency cases.\2

Additionally, the state data we obtained from five states and the
District of Columbia and the county data we obtained for a few
counties in five other states showed that the number of juvenile
cases filed directly in criminal court in the states that permitted
prosecutor direct filing ranged from less than 1 percent to 13
percent.  For example, based on data obtained, prosecutor direct
filing cases represented about 13 percent of juvenile cases in
Arkansas and less than 1 percent in Utah. 

Because data were not available on the number of cases excluded by
statute from juvenile court, we reviewed state statutes to identify
the possible impact of the statutes on the juveniles.  Our review of
state laws that exclude certain juveniles from juvenile court
jurisdiction showed that the laws primarily focused on serious
violent offenses and/or juveniles with prior court records. 

Since 1978, 44 states and the District of Columbia have passed new
laws that affect which juveniles may be sent to criminal court and
the process for their transfer to criminal court.  While some of the
new state laws are expected to have an impact on the frequency with
which juveniles are sent to criminal court, the extent of the impact
may vary. 

In 24 states and the District of Columbia, the new laws have
generally increased the population of juveniles potentially subject
to being sent to criminal court.  This was done by either decreasing
the age or increasing the types of offenses for which juveniles may
be sent to criminal court.  For example, in California the population
of juveniles that juvenile court judges can waive to criminal court
changed from age 16 for any offense to age 14 for specified offenses
and age 16 for other offenses.  Also, in New Jersey, offenses such as
first degree robbery and some weapons offenses have been added to the
list of offenses that may be judicially waived. 

Three states passed laws that tended to decrease the population of
juveniles potentially subject to being sent to criminal court.  The
other 17 states that passed new laws did not increase the population
of juveniles potentially subject to being sent to criminal court.  In
these states, the new laws changed the method in which certain
juveniles may be sent to criminal court.  For example, in Minnesota
in 1978, a child age 14 or older charged with any offense could be
judicially waived to criminal court.  Currently, however, a child age
16 or older charged with first degree murder is statutorily excluded
from juvenile court rather than eligible for judicial waiver. 
Appendix IV summarizes the laws of each state and the District of
Columbia. 

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics' 1989 and 1990 Offender
Based Transaction Statistics (OBTS) data from seven states,\3
conviction rates of juveniles prosecuted in criminal court for
serious violent, serious property, and drug offenses varied within
and among states.  However, juveniles in six of those states tended
to be convicted.  Of those juveniles convicted, property offenses
made up the largest proportion of juvenile convictions in five of the
seven states.  Further, in four of seven states incarceration rates
ranged from 62 to 100 percent for all three offenses.  Of those 703
juveniles incarcerated in the seven states, serious violent offenders
and serious property offenders accounted for the same proportion of
juveniles incarcerated, 39 percent.  In contrast, some juveniles
convicted of serious violent offenses received probation in five of
the seven states.  The percentages varied from 3 percent in
California to 50 percent in Vermont. 

We were requested to provide data on the disposition of juveniles in
juvenile court.  According to OJJDP data, many juveniles were placed
on probation in juvenile court.  In 1992, juveniles were placed on
probation in about 43 percent of approximately 744,000 formal
delinquency cases.  Of the remaining 57 percent of juvenile cases, 27
percent were dismissed, 17 percent of the juveniles were placed in a
residential treatment program, and 12 percent of them received some
other disposition such as restitution, fines, or community service. 
About 1 percent were transferred to criminal court. 

In the four states we visited, juveniles sentenced to adult prisons
generally were to be subject to the same policies and procedures as
adults; however, in three of the four states we visited, younger
inmates (typically those under age 26) were housed in separate
prisons.  At all the facilities, juveniles generally were to be
provided with the same health services; afforded the same
educational, vocational, and work opportunities; and provided access
to the same recreational facilities as older inmates. 


--------------------
\1 NCJJ, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the research
division of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. 

\2 See page 7 for a discussion of formal and informal delinquency
cases. 

\3 Appendix I contains an explanation for our selection of the seven
states. 


   BACKGROUND
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :2

A juvenile is an individual at or below the maximum age of juvenile
court jurisdiction.  Established by state statute, the maximum age of
juvenile court jurisdiction is the oldest age at which an individual
can be processed in juvenile court.\4

Individuals who are above the maximum age of juvenile court
jurisdiction are considered adults and therefore are under criminal
court jurisdiction.  In 39 states and the District of Columbia the
maximum age is 17.  In 11 states,\5 the maximum age is either 15 or
16.  Except for Wyoming (where the maximum age dropped from age 18 to
17), the maximum age had not changed in any state, when comparing the
state laws in 1978 with the laws in 1994. 

Although the organization of state juvenile justice systems varies,
two options are generally provided for processing juvenile
delinquency cases--formal and informal.  An authorized court official
(e.g., juvenile prosecutor or juvenile probation officer) decides
whether to process the case formally through the court system or
informally by diverting the case from the juvenile court. 

For handling formal cases, a petition must be drafted and filed to
provide notice of the offenses that will be pursued and to request
the court to adjudicate--judicially determine (judge) whether or not
the youth is a delinquent offender.\6 For informal cases there is no
formal court petition or legal instrument requesting the court to
adjudicate the youth as a delinquent.  Whether the case is handled
formally or informally, juveniles receive dispositions.  Disposition
options may include dismissal of the case, probation, fines or
restitution, community service, and placement. 

A juvenile who is at or below the maximum age of juvenile court
jurisdiction may be sent to criminal court by one of the following
three methods: 

  judicial waiver, which allows juvenile court judges to transfer
     juveniles to criminal court.  Generally, prosecutors initiate
     judicial waiver by filing a waiver petition asking the judge to
     consider the case for waiver;

  prosecutor direct filing, which allows prosecutors to decide
     whether to file certain cases in juvenile or criminal court;

  application of statutory exclusion laws, which specify crimes or
     juveniles with certain prior records that are excluded from
     juvenile court jurisdiction. 

For each method, the prosecutor plays an important role in
determining whether a juvenile will be sent to criminal court.  For
example, the offense with which the prosecutor charges the accused
can determine whether the juvenile falls under a state's criteria for
criminal court prosecution. 

Juveniles prosecuted in state criminal court are subject to the same
state court procedures and sentencing guidelines as other defendants
in criminal court. 


--------------------
\4 Most states have given the juvenile court authority over juveniles
who are above the maximum age of juvenile court jurisdiction.  This
is called the extended age of juvenile court jurisdiction.  It is the
age at which the juvenile court can retain jurisdiction of a juvenile
adjudicated as a delinquent.  For example, in Michigan where the
maximum age of juvenile court jurisdiction is age 16, a juvenile who
is adjudicated in juvenile court as a delinquent and has a
disposition that extends beyond the upper age of juvenile court
jurisdiction would still be under the jurisdiction of the juvenile
court until age 21. 

\5 In Connecticut, New York, and North Carolina the maximum age of
juvenile court jurisdiction is 15.  In Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, South Carolina, and Texas the
maximum age of juvenile court jurisdiction is 16. 

\6 In the remainder of this report, cases where the intake decision
is to proceed formally will be referred to as formal cases. 


   SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :3

To determine the frequency with which juveniles were sent to criminal
court, we developed estimates of the number of juvenile cases
transferred to criminal court by juvenile court judges (judicial
waiver) using the NCJJ national data--National Juvenile Court Data
Archive (NJCDA)--for calendar years 1988 through 1992.  As part of
our analysis of judicial waivers, we developed estimates of the age,
sex, race, and offense profiles of juveniles transferred to criminal
court by judges in Arizona, California, Florida, Missouri,
Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Utah. 

Data limitations precluded us from developing estimates of the total
number of juvenile cases filed directly in criminal court by
prosecutors (prosecutor direct filing) and those juveniles excluded
from juvenile court because of the offense committed and/or prior
court records (statutory exclusion) in those states permitting these
methods.  We did, however, contact state court officials in the
District of Columbia and 10 states that we identified as having
direct filing laws and analyzed data they provided.  We analyzed the
statutory exclusion laws in the District of Columbia and 37 states
that we identified as having these laws to determine the types of
offenses and/or prior court records that exclude juveniles from
juvenile court.\7

To analyze the sentences of juveniles tried in criminal court,\8

we used criminal court data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.\9
We identified offenses, conviction rates, and incarceration rates in
California, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania,
and Vermont. 

To gather prosecutors opinions on data related to the processing of
juveniles in criminal courts, we sent a survey to a nationally
representative sample of district prosecutor offices that dealt with
juveniles in juvenile court. 

To determine the conditions of confinement for juveniles in
correctional facilities, we visited seven prisons in Florida,
Michigan, North Carolina, and Ohio. 

To provide a summary of state laws governing which juveniles may be
sent to criminal court, we reviewed the statutes for all 50 states
and the District of Columbia. 

Appendix I presents more details about our objectives, scope, and
methodology, including a discussion of how we selected the states and
prisons we visited.  Our results apply to states and prisons for
which we collected data and cannot be projected to other locations. 
We did not verify data provided by the states.  We did our work from
May 1993 through April 1995 in accordance with generally accepted
government auditing standards.  Since no federal agency has
responsibility for the issues addressed in this report, we did not
obtain comments on a draft of this report.  However, we did discuss
our results with NCJJ and OJJDP officials and, where appropriate,
incorporated their comments. 


--------------------
\7 An analysis of state laws under which juveniles may be sent to
criminal court focused on the laws in effect during calendar year
1978 (Youth in Adult Courts:  Between Two Worlds, Hamparian, 1982). 
We used this study as the baseline for our analysis of the changes
that were made in the state laws regarding the basis on which
juveniles may be sent to criminal court.  Our analysis focused on the
laws passed through 1994, some of which were not in effect until
1995. 

\8 We classified cases as juveniles on the basis of the defendants'
age at the time of arrest because data were not available for the
defendants' age at the time of offense. 

\9 The Bureau's dataset did not contain all dispositions occurring in
a given year, only those reported to the state and for which the
state had a previous arrest reported. 


   LIMITED DATA AVAILABLE
   INDICATED RELATIVELY FEW
   JUVENILES SENT TO CRIMINAL
   COURT
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :4

Limited nationwide and state data existed on the total number of
juvenile cases sent to criminal court.  However, we obtained
information on the number of juvenile cases sent to criminal court by
judicial waiver and some information on the number sent by prosecutor
direct filing.  Since data on statutory exclusions were not
available, we analyzed state statutes to identify the possible impact
of the statutes on juveniles. 

According to our analysis of NCJJ data, the rate at which juvenile
court judges sent formal delinquency cases to criminal court has
remained less than 2 percent from 1988 to 1992.  Additionally, data
available from 5 states, the District of Columbia, and a few counties
in 5 other states on the number of prosecutor direct filing cases
filed in criminal court annually showed that it ranged from 4 cases
in one state to about 7,200 cases in another state.  Our analysis of
statutory exclusion laws indicated that the laws generally
established specific criteria that focused on juveniles (1) charged
with serious violent offenses and/or (2) with previous court records. 
In addition, our analysis showed that legislation passed in the last
16 years included two primary types of changes:  (1) in 24 states and
the District of Columbia legislative changes tended to increase the
population of juveniles who may be sent to criminal court and (2) in
17 other states, recent legislation changed the method in which
certain juveniles may be sent to criminal court (e.g., from the
judicial waiver to the prosecutor direct filing). 

The results of our national survey of state prosecutors suggested
that in most prosecutorial offices, judicial waivers accounted for a
higher percentage of juveniles arriving in criminal court than direct
filings or statutory exclusions. 


      TRANSFER AND SENTENCING OF
      JUVENILES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.1

We identified (1) judicial waiver laws in 47 states and the District
of Columbia, (2) prosecutor direct filing laws in 10 states and the
District of Columbia, and (3) one or more statutory exclusion laws in
37 states and the District of Columbia. 

We also identified 21 states with provisions that allow criminal
court judges to transfer cases from criminal court to juvenile court
under circumstances specified in the law (reverse waiver).  For
example, in Arkansas, when a prosecutor directly files a case in
criminal court, the criminal court judge may remand the case to
juvenile court.  In addition, we identified 19 states that allow
juveniles prosecuted and convicted in criminal court to receive
dispositions as a juvenile under specified circumstances.  For
example, in California a juvenile convicted in criminal court may
receive a disposition as a juvenile if the California Youth Authority
determines that the juvenile is amenable to treatment. 

See table 1 for a summary of the state statutes and appendix IV for a
detailed summary of statutes in all 50 states and the District of
Columbia that govern which juveniles may be sent to criminal court. 



                                     Table 1
                     
                         Summary of Juvenile Transfer and
                              Sentencing Provisions

                                                                 Juveniles
                                                                 convicted in
                                                                 criminal court
                          Prosecutor   Statutory                 could receive a
             Judicial     direct       exclusion    Reverse      disposition as
State        waiver       filing       laws         waiver       a juvenile
-----------  -----------  -----------  -----------  -----------  ---------------
Alabama      x                         x

Alaska       x                         x                         x

Arizona      x

Arkansas     x            x                         x

California   x                                                   x

Colorado     x            x                                      x

Connecticut  x                         x

Delaware     x                         x            x

District     x            x            x
of
Columbia

Florida      x            x            x                         x

Georgia      x            x            x            x            x

Hawaii       x                         x                         x

Idaho        x                         x

Illinois     x                         x                         x

Indiana      x                         x

Iowa         x                         x                         x

Kansas       x                         x

Kentucky     x                         x            x            x

Louisiana    x            x            x

Maine        x                         x

Maryland     x                         x            x

Massachuset  x                                                   x
ts

Michigan     x            x                                      x

Minnesota    x                         x

Mississippi  x                         x            x

Missouri     x                         x

Montana      x                         x

Nebraska                  x                         x

Nevada       x                         x            x

New          x                         x            x
Hampshire

New Jersey   x

New Mexico   \a                        x

New York                               x            x            x

North        x                         x
Carolina

North        x
Dakota

Ohio         x                         x

Oklahoma     x                         x            x

Oregon       x                         x                         x

Pennsylvani  x                         x            x            x
a

Rhode        x                         x
Island

South        x                         x            x
Carolina

South        x                                                   x
Dakota

Tennessee    x                         x            x

Texas        x                                      x

Utah         x            x            x            x            x

Vermont      x            x            x            x            x

Virginia     x                         x            x            x

Washington   x                         x

West         x                                      x            x
Virginia

Wisconsin    x                         x            x

Wyoming      x            x                         x
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legend:  x indicates the transfer and sentencing provisions allowed
by each state. 

\a New Mexico does not have a judicial waiver process.  However,
certain juveniles, who are called "youthful offenders," can be
subject to adult or juvenile sanctions in juvenile court. 

Source:  GAO review of state statutes. 


      JUDICIAL WAIVER RATE HAS
      INCREASED FROM 1988 THROUGH
      1992
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.2

The percent of formal delinquency cases judicially waived to criminal
court (judicial waiver rate) increased by 33 percent from 1.2 percent
in 1988 to 1.6 percent in 1992, which represented a growth from about
7,000 to almost 12,000 cases a year, as shown in table 2.  This
increase occurred while the total number of formal delinquency cases
increased by about 31 percent; the number of waived cases increased
about 68 percent. 



                           Table 2
           
              Number of Formal Delinquency Cases
           Nationwide and the Number and Percentage
            of Cases Judicially Waived to Criminal
                            Court

                                       Number of
                                          formal
                                     delinquency
                       Number of           cases
                          formal      judicially    Judicial
                      delinquenc       waived to      waiver
Year                     y cases  criminal court      rate\a
--------------------  ----------  --------------  ----------
1988                     569,596           7,005        1.2%
1989                     608,593           8,350         1.4
1990                     654,742           8,708         1.3
1991                     689,328          10,933         1.6
1992                     743,673          11,748         1.6
------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  The broad offense categories used in our analysis included
person, property, drugs, and public order as defined by OJJDP.  The
person category includes criminal homicide, forcible rape, robbery,
aggravated assault, simple assault, and other person offenses--such
as kidnapping and harassment.  The property category includes
burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, arson, vandalism, stolen
property offenses, trespassing, and other property offenses--such as
fraud, counterfeiting, and embezzlement.  The drug category includes
unlawful sale, purchase, distribution, manufacture, cultivation,
transport, possession or use of a controlled or prohibited substance
or drug.  The public order category includes weapons offenses,
nonviolent sex offenses, and liquor law violations. 

\a The waiver rate is the ratio of the number of waived cases to the
number of formal delinquency cases.  The percentage of all
delinquency cases which were handled formally varied across states. 

Source:  Developed by GAO from NJCDA data. 

Data showed that judicial waiver rates varied by offense type, as
shown in table 3.  The judicial waiver rate for person offenses in
1992 was 2.4 percent in contrast to the waiver rate for property
offenses, which was 1.3 percent.  Therefore, judges were more likely
to waive cases to criminal court involving juveniles charged with
person offenses than juveniles charged with property offenses in
1992.  While the waiver rates for all the offenses increased from
1988 through 1992, the waiver rates for drug offenses increased the
most; however, the rate decreased between 1991 and 1992.\10



                           Table 3
           
               Judicial Waiver Rate by Offense

Offense                 1988    1989    1990    1991    1992
--------------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------
Person                  1.9%    2.0%    2.1%    2.4%    2.4%
Property                 1.2     1.2     1.1     1.2     1.3
Drugs                    1.5     2.8     2.7     4.4     3.1
Public order             0.5     0.5     0.6     0.7     0.8
------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  Developed by GAO using NJCDA data. 

While the chances of juvenile cases being waived to criminal court
were highest for juveniles charged with person and drug offenses,
property offenders made up the largest proportion of waived cases, as
shown in table 4.  This was due to the prevalence of property
offenses versus person or drug offenses.  For example, NCJJ data
showed that in 1992, referrals to juvenile court were about 401,000
or 54 percent for property offenses, about 165,000 or 22 percent for
person offenses, and 46,000 or 6 percent for drug offenses. 



                           Table 4
           
            Percent of Judicially Waived Cases by
             Offense Type, from 1988 Through 1992

Offense                 1988    1989    1990    1991    1992
--------------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------
Person                   29%     28%     32%     32%     34%
Property                  53      49      46      44      45
Drugs                     11      16      15      17      12
Public order               8       7       8       7       9
------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  Figures may not add to 100 percent due to rounding. 

Source:  Developed by GAO from NCJJ data. 

Also shown in table 4, the offense profile of judicially waived cases
changed from 1988 to 1992.  For example, person offenses increased
from 29 percent of the cases waived in 1988 to 34 percent in 1992. 
In addition, property offense cases decreased from 53 percent of the
cases waived in 1988 to 45 percent in 1992. 

Similar to the offense profile, the demographic profile of juvenile
cases waived to criminal court had changed slightly from 1988 to 1992
(see table 5).  For example, the percentage of waived cases for
juveniles age 16 or older decreased from 93 percent in 1988 to 88
percent in 1992.  Also, the racial makeup of juveniles whose cases
were waived changed since 1988 when about 54 percent were white, 43
percent were black, and 2 percent were of other races.  In 1992,
about 47 percent of juveniles whose cases were waived were white, 50
percent were black, and 3 percent were of other races. 



                           Table 5
           
             Percent of Waived Juvenile Cases, by
            Sex, Age, and Race, 1988 Through 1992


                               16 or
Year         Male  Female      older   White   Black   Other
---------  ------  ------  ---------  ------  ------  ------
1988          96%      4%        93%     54%     43%      2%
1989           95       5         89      49      49       2
1990           96       4         90      45      52       3
1991           96       4         91      47      52       2
1992           96       4         88      47      50       3
------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  Percentages may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding. 
Source:  Developed by GAO from NCJJ's data archive. 


--------------------
\10 We used juvenile court data collected annually by NCJJ to
determine the number of juvenile cases processed in criminal court
due to judicial waiver.  Each year, NCJJ collects juvenile court
processing data from various states and jurisdictions and assigns
weights to the data, which permits projecting the data to produce
national estimates of cases disposed by all state juvenile justice
systems. 


      ANALYSIS OF WAIVER RATES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.3

To provide perspective on patterns of waiver rates across the six
states, we examined data on the number of juveniles charged with
violent, property, and drug offenses.  We used these three offenses
because the number of cases for each offense allowed comparisons. 
Our analysis focused on the potential effects on waiver rates for
five variables--age (for six states), sex (for six states), race (for
six states), nature of locality (metropolitan or nonmetropolitan, for
four states), and number of prior referrals (for five states).\11 We
examined each of the variables separately because we could not
control for variables for which data were not available and because
of the small number of cases waived in each offense type within the
state.  (Tables II.3, II.6, II.9, II.12, II.15, and II.18 contain the
data used in our analysis.)


--------------------
\11 The states differed because of the availability of data.  Utah
did not have a sufficient number of cases to be included in this
analysis.  For the other six NCJJ states, all were included for age,
sex, and race; Florida, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina
had data for metropolitan/nonmetropolitan locality; and Arizona,
Florida, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina had information
on prior referrals. 


         VARIABLES
-------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.3.1

Age - In the six states we examined, juveniles 16 years or older were
more likely to have their cases waived for all three offense types. 

Gender - Males were more likely than females to have their cases
waived within each offense type in the six states we analyzed.  The
extent of the difference again varied by state. 

Race - Blacks were more likely than whites to have their cases waived
for all three offenses in four of the six states we examined. 

Locality - In the four NCJJ states with data on type of court
location, some small differences existed but were not consistent
across offense types within the same state. 

Prior Referrals - In the five states we examined, waiver rates
generally increased with the number of prior referrals for all five
states and most offense types. 

Appendix II contains data on the percent of cases waived, the
demographic characteristics for juveniles in the seven states, and a
detailed discussion of our analysis of waiver rates. 


      JUDICIAL WAIVER CRITERIA
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.4

Whether a juvenile case is eligible for judicial waiver depends on
the state.  Forty-seven states and the District of Columbia have
judicial waiver laws, and each state establishes different criteria
for which cases may be waived.  The criteria often include specific
age and offense restrictions as well as factors that the judge must
consider related to the juvenile's case.  For example, juvenile
judges in Florida can waive a case to criminal court involving a
juvenile age 14 or older for any offense if there is a finding that
the juvenile should be transferred after considering certain factors;
whereas judges in Maryland can waive a case involving a juvenile age
15 or older for any offense and a juvenile of any age charged with a
crime punishable by death or life imprisonment if there is a finding
that the juvenile is unfit for juvenile rehabilitative measures.  In
addition, the U.S.  Supreme Court in an appendix to Kent v.  United
States, 383 U.S.  541 (1966),\12 outlined certain factors that the
juvenile court judge would consider when making waiver decisions
under the specific statute.  The factors from the 1966 court case
included

  seriousness of the alleged offense to the community and whether the
     protection of the community requires waiver;

  whether the offense was committed in an aggressive, violent,
     premeditated, or willful manner;

  whether the offense was committed against persons or against
     property, with greater weight being given to offenses against
     persons, especially if personal injury resulted;

  prosecutive merit of the complaint;

  whether the juveniles' associates in the offenses were adults;

  sophistication and maturity of the juvenile;

  juveniles' record and previous history;

  protection of the public; and

  likelihood of reasonable rehabilitation of the juvenile by the use
     of procedures, services, and facilities that are available to
     the juvenile court. 

Many states have incorporated these factors into their juvenile codes
either verbatim or with minor modifications.  In interviews with
judges in seven states and in our nationwide survey of prosecutors,
we asked which factors from a list (based on factors previously
listed) they were most likely to consider when making waiver
decisions.  The factors chosen most often by judges and prosecutors
were the seriousness of the offense, the juveniles' previous record
and history, and whether the juvenile was amenable to rehabilitation. 

While we were unable to get an estimate of the total number of waiver
petitions filed by prosecutors, information collected in our survey
of prosecutors suggested that more than half of the requests for
judicial waivers filed in calendar year 1993 were granted.\13 We are
not certain of the reliability of these figures because their
responses may have been on the basis of impressions rather than data. 
See appendix II for additional data on judicial waivers in the seven
states. 


--------------------
\12 The U.S.  Supreme Court in Kent also set forth a number of
procedural safeguards to protect the interests of the child--the
right to a hearing that meets the essentials of due process and fair
treatment, representation by counsel, access by the juvenile's
attorney to the juvenile's social record, and a statement of reasons
in support of the waiver order if the juvenile case is waived. 

\13 See appendix I for survey responses and confidence intervals. 


      LIMITED DATA INDICATED THE
      USE OF PROSECUTOR DIRECT
      FILING VARIES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.5

State data and data for only some counties were available in the
District of Columbia and 10 states that allow prosecutor direct
filing.  Table 6 shows the available data that we obtained on
prosecutor direct filings, including statewide data from five states
and the District of Columbia.  Data on direct filing in the other
five states were available only from certain counties. 



                                     Table 6
                     
                      Frequency of Prosecutor Direct Filing

                                                         Number of
                                                             cases  Total number
                                                          directly      of cases
                                                          filed in    handled in
                                   Principal    Time      criminal      juvenile
Jurisdiction                            city  period         court         court
------------------------------  ------------  ------  ------------  ------------
Arkansas                                 N/A    1993         1,327        10,044
Colorado                                 N/A    1993         152\a        11,980
District of                              N/A    1993            15         3,029
 Columbia\b
Florida                                  N/A    1991         7,232        75,976
Georgia\c
Chatham                             Savannah    1993            15       3,800\d
 County
De Kalb                            Suburb of    1993            16        10,234
 County                              Atlanta
Louisiana
Caddo                             Shreveport    1993             8           415
 Parish
Orleans                          New Orleans    1993            63         1,444
 Parish
Jefferson                          Suburb of    1993             7       2,000\d
 Parish\e                        New Orleans
Michigan
Wayne                                Detroit    1993            82         8,402
 County
Nebraska
Douglas                                Omaha    1993          10\d       1,800\d
 County
Utah                                     N/A    1993             4        12,122
Vermont                                  N/A    1993           103         1,369
Wyoming
Laramie                             Cheyenne    1993           6\d           198
 County
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a Data represent September 1993 through July 1994 time period. 

\b The District of Columbia provided data on only the number of
juveniles convicted in criminal court. 

\c County data represent cases filed in criminal court by judicial
waiver, prosecutor direct filing, and statutory exclusion. 

\d This is an annual estimate. 

\e Data represent prosecutor direct filing and statutory exclusion. 

Source:  Developed by GAO using data provided by state and local
court officials in jurisdiction listed. 

While the data provided by state and local court officials were
inconsistent and incomplete, (e.g., lack of statewide data and time
periods were different) they indicated that the frequency of using
direct filing varied throughout the states that have direct filing
laws.  Data provided by juvenile court officials on the number of
delinquency cases filed in these jurisdictions compared with data
provided by criminal court officials on the number of cases directly
filed by prosecutors showed that direct filing cases represented a
larger percentage of juvenile cases in some states than in others. 
For example, in Florida and Arkansas prosecutor direct filing cases
represented about 10 percent of juveniles cases, and in Colorado and
Wayne County, Michigan they represented about 1 percent. 

Direct filing laws in 10 states and the District of Columbia
generally focused on felony offenses for juveniles over an age
specified in each state's laws.  However, juveniles age 16 in
Nebraska and Vermont and age 17 in Wyoming can be direct filed in
criminal court for any offense.  In jurisdictions with direct filing
laws, prosecutors had discretion to decide whether to file the case
in juvenile or criminal court.  The extent to which prosecutors
exercise their discretion was exemplified by data provided by
criminal court officials in Arkansas and Wayne County, Michigan. 
These data showed that many of the cases eligible for direct filing
remained in juvenile court.  For example, in Arkansas 2,756 cases
were eligible to be filed in criminal court in 1992.  However, during
that period, prosecutors directly filed about 45 percent of the cases
in criminal court.  In addition, in Wayne County 146 juvenile cases
were eligible to be filed in criminal court in 1992.  However, during
that period less than half the cases, 61 (or 42 percent), were filed
in criminal court. 


      FREQUENCY OF JUVENILE CASES
      STATUTORILY EXCLUDED FROM
      JUVENILE COURT UNKNOWN
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.6

Data were not available on the number of cases excluded by law from
juvenile court jurisdiction.\14 Without state data, we were unable to
determine the frequency of statutory exclusion cases sent to criminal
court.  We were, however, able to analyze the laws to determine the
conditions under which juveniles were excluded from juvenile court
(see table 7 for our analysis).  According to our analysis, statutory
exclusion laws focused primarily on juveniles charged with serious
violent offenses and/or juveniles with previous juvenile or criminal
court records.  In addition, 15 states also excluded one or more
other serious offense (e.g., a child age 16 or older carrying a
handgun without a license in Indiana). 

In 17 of the 37 states with statutory exclusion laws, the laws
excluded juveniles charged with serious violent offenses and
juveniles with prior court records (repeat offenders) from juvenile
court.  For example, in Pennsylvania, any juvenile charged with
murder is excluded from juvenile court as well as any juvenile who
has been previously found guilty in a criminal proceeding.  In 13 of
the 37 states, the focus of the statutory exclusion laws are to
exclude juveniles charged with serious violent offenses from juvenile
court.  For example, in New York, any juvenile age 13 or older
charged with murder in the second degree is to be prosecuted in
criminal court.  In addition, New York excludes juveniles age 14 or
older from juvenile court for a list of serious violent crimes that
include assault, rape, and manslaughter, each in the first degree. 
New York does not have any exclusion provisions on the basis of the
juvenile's prior record.  In 7 of the 37 states and in the District
of Columbia, the focus of the statutory exclusion laws is to exclude
juveniles with prior criminal court records from juvenile court
jurisdiction.  These laws apply to all juveniles with specified prior
records (i.e., adult court convictions) regardless of their offenses. 
For example, in Virginia, any juvenile previously convicted as an
adult is excluded from juvenile court jurisdiction regardless of the
offense.\15

While statutory exclusion laws in most states focus on serious
violent offenses and prior records, in 15 states one or more other
serious offenses such as burglary, weapons, and drug offenses are
excluded.  For example, in Maryland using, wearing, carrying, or
transporting a firearm during a drug trafficking offense would
exclude a juvenile age 16 or older from juvenile court jurisdiction. 



                           Table 7
           
            Conditions Under Which Juvenile Cases
              Were Excluded From Juvenile Court

                    Laws focus on
                    exclusion for       Laws focus on
                    serious violent     exclusion due to
State               offenses            prior record
------------------  ------------------  --------------------
Alabama             x                   x

Alaska              x

Connecticut         x                   x

Delaware            x

District of                             x
Columbia

Florida             x                   x

Georgia             x                   x

Hawaii              x                   x

Idaho               x                   x

Illinois            x                   x

Indiana             x                   x

Iowa                                    x

Kansas                                  x

Kentucky            x

Louisiana           x

Maine                                   x

Maryland            x

Minnesota           x                   x

Mississippi         x                   x

Missouri                                x

Montana             x

Nevada              x                   x

New Hampshire                           x

New Mexico          x

New York            x

North Carolina      x

Ohio                x                   x

Oklahoma            x                   x

Oregon              x

Pennsylvania        x                   x

Rhode Island        x                   x

South Carolina      x

Tennessee                               x

Utah                x                   x

Vermont             x

Virginia                                x

Washington          x                   x

Wisconsin           x
------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  While statutory exclusion laws generally focus on juveniles
with serious violent offenses and/or prior court records, 15 states
also exclude juveniles with one or more serious offenses from
juvenile court jurisdiction.  These states are Alabama, Alaska,
Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas,
Maryland, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and
Vermont. 

Legend:  x indicates the conditions for which each state excluded
juveniles from juvenile court. 

Source:  GAO review of state statutes. 


--------------------
\14 Using 1990 data, NCJJ estimates that in 11 states where the
maximum age of juvenile court jurisdiction is age 15 or 16,
approximately 176,000 cases involving persons age 16 and 17 are
automatically charged in criminal court each year because they are
defined as adults by the state.  However, there is no estimate on the
number of juveniles at or below the maximum age of juvenile court
jurisdiction that are charged in criminal court due to their offense
and/or prior record. 

\15 For those juveniles who were previously convicted and served
their sentences in facilities, the likelihood would be small that
they would still be under the maximum age of jurisdiction if they
were subsequently charged with another crime. 


      CHANGES IN STATE LAWS MAY
      AFFECT THE NUMBER OF
      JUVENILES SENT TO CRIMINAL
      COURT AND THE METHOD FOR
      SENDING CERTAIN JUVENILES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.7

Since 1978, 44 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws
that have an effect on which juveniles may be sent to criminal court. 
These laws could affect the number of juveniles sent to criminal
court; however, the impact may vary.  In 24 of these states and the
District of Columbia, the laws have tended to increase the population
of juveniles potentially subject to being sent to criminal court.  In
three states, the population of juveniles subject to being sent to
criminal court decreased.  In 17 states, the laws changed the method
in which certain juveniles are sent to criminal court. 

In 24 states\16 and the District of Columbia the laws that identify
juveniles who may be sent to criminal court increased the population
of juveniles potentially subject to being sent to criminal court. 
For example, in 1978, California law allowed juvenile court judges to
waive the case of any juvenile age 16 or older.  Since then, a law
was passed that allows juvenile court judges to also waive cases
involving juveniles 14 or older for a list of specific offenses. 
This change increased the number of juveniles that are subject to
being sent to criminal court.  Also, in 1978, North Dakota law
allowed judges to waive the case of a juvenile age 16 years or older
charged with a "crime or public offense." Since then, a new law was
passed that allows juvenile court judges to also waive cases
involving juveniles 14 years or older charged with committing an act
that involves the infliction or threat of serious bodily harm.  New
Mexico, South Dakota, and Wyoming changed their laws, which had the
effect of decreasing the population of juveniles potentially subject
to being sent to criminal court.  For example, in 1978, Wyoming law
allowed judges to waive the case of a child of any age for any
offense to criminal court.  Currently, only cases involving children
age 13 or older can be waived to criminal court. 

In the remaining 17 states,\17 the new laws changed the method in
which certain juvenile cases may be sent to criminal court but did
not increase the size of the potential population of juveniles that
may be sent to criminal court.  In general, these laws have changed
the process for sending juveniles to criminal court.  For example, in
1988, Michigan passed a law that gives prosecutors the discretion to
directly file cases in criminal court involving juveniles who are age
15 or older and are charged with a list of specific crimes.  Prior to
this law, these cases would be filed initially in juvenile court, and
the prosecutors would have to request a waiver hearing for those
cases they believed should be sent to criminal court.  During the
waiver hearing, the juvenile court judge would decide whether to
waive the case to criminal court. 

Maryland also changed the process by excluding from juvenile court
juveniles age 16 or older charged with certain specified violent
crimes and other serious crimes.  Previously, the juvenile court
judge decided whether these cases should be sent to criminal court;
however, state law now establishes the criteria by which certain
juvenile cases are sent to criminal court. 


--------------------
\16 The states that have passed laws that increased the population of
juveniles who may be sent to criminal court are Alabama, Arkansas,
California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana,
Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, North
Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. 

\17 The states that have passed laws that changed the method in which
certain juveniles may be sent to criminal court are Alaska, Colorado,
Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota,
Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah,
and Washington. 


      PROSECUTOR SURVEY INDICATED
      JUDICIAL WAIVER USED MOST
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :4.8

We surveyed a sample of prosecutors' offices to obtain information on
the estimated percent of all indictments filed against juveniles in
criminal court that were the result of judicial waiver, direct
filings, and statutory exclusions.  The survey results suggested that
in most prosecutorial offices, judicial waivers accounted for a
higher percentage of juveniles arriving in criminal court than direct
filings or statutory exclusions.\18 Further, we estimated that in
about 60 percent of the offices only judicial waivers were used. 
However, the results are difficult to interpret because of missing
data and potentially inconsistent completion by the respondents. 


--------------------
\18 See appendix I for survey responses and confidence intervals. 


   JUVENILES PROSECUTED IN
   CRIMINAL COURT FOR CERTAIN
   OFFENSES TENDED TO BE CONVICTED
   AND INCARCERATED
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :5

Our analysis of 1989 and 1990 criminal court data for seven states
indicated that most juveniles prosecuted in criminal court in each
state were convicted.  Further, most juveniles were convicted of
property offenses.  When juveniles were sentenced in criminal court
for serious offenses, most were incarcerated. 


      MOST JUVENILES PROSECUTED
      FOR SERIOUS OFFENSES IN
      CRIMINAL COURT WERE
      CONVICTED IN SIX OF SEVEN
      STATES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :5.1

Our analysis of conviction rates in seven states--California,
Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, and
Vermont--showed that states conviction rates for juveniles prosecuted
in criminal court, during 1989 and 1990 combined, varied for serious
violent, serious property, and drug offenses.\19 For example, as
shown in table 8, the conviction rate for serious violent offenses in
Missouri was 50 percent.  Conviction rates for serious property
offenses in Pennsylvania and Vermont were 63 percent and 97 percent,
respectively. 



                                     Table 8
                     
                        Conviction Rates and the Number of
                      Juveniles Prosecuted in Criminal Court
                     in Seven States for Selected Offenses in
                                  1989 and 1990


St
at       Number      Percent       Number      Percent       Number      Percent
e    prosecuted    convicted   prosecuted    convicted   prosecuted    convicted
--  -----------  -----------  -----------  -----------  -----------  -----------
Ca          126          87%           71          78%          141          75%
 l
 i
 f
 o
 r
 n
 i
 a
Mi           51          100           99           97            2          100
 n
 n
 e
 s
 o
 t
 a
Mi           24           50           24           67           13           54
 s
 s
 o
 u
 r
 i
Ne           78           77          124           81           59           81
 b
 r
 a
 s
 k
 a
Ne           75           32           76           26           85           27
 w
 Y
 o
 r
 k
Pe          118           83          414           63           18           83
 n
 n
 s
 y
 l
 v
 a
 n
 i
 a
Ve           25           96          177           97            9          100
 r
 m
 o
 n
 t
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  This table includes the most prevalent offense types for which
juveniles are prosecuted, on the basis of criminal court data. 

Source:  Developed by GAO from OBTS data. 

To provide some perspective on how juveniles were treated as compared
with others prosecuted in criminal court, we compared juvenile
conviction rates with the conviction rates of "other youth"\20 age 16
or 17 and young adults ages 18 to 24 (see tables III.1 and III.2 in
app.  III for conviction rates for other youth and young adults). 
The data for other youth and young adults includes a broader range of
crimes within crime types (than juveniles' crimes) because all youth
and young adults crimes are prosecuted in criminal court.  Some
juvenile crimes are tried in criminal court because of the severity
of juveniles' offenses or prior records.  Our analysis of the two
states, Missouri and New York, which included the other youth
population,\21 showed that in Missouri, juvenile conviction rates
were higher than the rates of other youth (persons of age 17).  For
example, the conviction rate for juveniles prosecuted for serious
property offenses in Missouri was 67 percent compared with 38 percent
for other youth.  In New York, conviction rates were lower for
juveniles than they were for other youth (persons age 16 and 17). 
For example, the conviction rate for juveniles prosecuted in New York
for serious property offenses was 26 percent compared with 64 percent
for other youth. 

A comparison of conviction rates in the states we analyzed for
juveniles and young adults (persons age 18 through 24) showed that
generally, juveniles were, for some offenses, as likely as young
adults to be convicted in criminal court.  Finally, juvenile
conviction rates for serious violent, serious property, and drug
offenses were generally similar to the rates for young adults in the
states we analyzed, except for New York.  For example, the conviction
rate for serious property offenses in Minnesota was 97 percent for
juveniles compared with 89 percent for young adults.  Also, the
conviction rate for drug offenses in Pennsylvania was 83 percent for
juveniles compared with 81 percent for young adults. 

Our analysis of juvenile conviction offenses showed, in five\22

of seven states, that property offenses made up the largest
proportion of juvenile convictions in criminal court, representing
between 36 and 66 percent of convictions, as shown in table 9.  In
California and New York, violent offenses accounted for the largest
proportion of juvenile convictions. 



                           Table 9
           
              Percent of Juveniles Convicted in
            Criminal Court by Offense for 1989 and
                             1990

                             Percent     Percent
                           convicted   convicted
                                  of          of     Percent
               Number of     serious     serious   convicted
               juveniles     violent    property     of drug
State          convicted    offenses    offenses    offenses
------------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
California           280         39%         20%         38%
Minnesota            165          31          58           1
Missouri              44          27          36          16
Nebraska             277          23          38          18
New York              78          31          26          29
Pennsylvania         409          24          64           4
Vermont              260           9          66           3
------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  Percents may not equal 100 percent due to rounding and the
exclusion of such offense types as weapons, indeterminate property,
public order, and traffic. 

Source:  Developed by GAO using OBTS data. 

Similar to juveniles, the largest percentage of other youth and young
adults convicted in criminal court were property offenders.  (See
tables III.3 and III.4 in app.  III for conviction offenses of other
youth and young adults.) In California and New York, the largest
proportion of young adults convicted were drug offenders.  For
example, 37 percent of young adults in California and 33 percent in
New York were convicted of drug offenses. 


--------------------
\19 Using OBTS data, we categorized offense types into serious
violent, serious property, and drugs.  Serious violent offenses
include murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated
assault, and other violent offenses (e.g., sexual assault and
kidnapping).  Serious property offenses include burglary, fraud,
forgery, embezzlement, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson.  Drug
offenses include drug possession and trafficking. 

\20 "Other youth" are individuals beyond the maximum age of juvenile
court jurisdiction in their state and are below the age 18. 

\21 Unlike the other five states where the maximum age of juvenile
court jurisdiction is 17, in Missouri, the maximum age is 16, and in
New York it is 15.  Therefore, in Missouri other youth are
individuals of age 17, and in New York, other youth are individuals
of age 16 and 17.  In both states, these other youths are legally
considered as adults and are under the original jurisdiction of the
criminal court. 

\22 The five states where property offenses made up the largest
proportion of juvenile convictions in criminal court were Minnesota,
Missouri, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. 


      MOST JUVENILES SENTENCED IN
      CRIMINAL COURT FOR SERIOUS
      OFFENSES WERE INCARCERATED
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :5.2

In four\23 of seven states we analyzed, over half of the juveniles
sentenced in criminal court for serious violent, serious property, or
drug offenses were incarcerated in each state.  Incarceration
rates\24 for these offenses varied among states, as shown in table
10.  In Vermont, incarceration rates for these offenses were 33
percent or less.  In addition, in Missouri the incarceration rate for
drug offenders was 43 percent.  Also, in Pennsylvania the
incarceration rate for serious property offenders was 10 percent. 

Among the 7 states, a total of 703 juveniles was sentenced to
incarceration in the 3 offense types during 1989 and 1990. 



                                     Table 10
                     
                      Percent of Juveniles Incarcerated and
                     the Total Number of Juveniles Sentenced
                      for Serious Violent, Serious Property,
                        and Drug Offenses in 1989 and 1990


              Number     Percent                 Percent                 Percent
              senten  incarcerat      Number  incarcerat      Number  incarcerat
State            ced          ed   sentenced          ed   sentenced          ed
------------  ------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
California        98         90%          57         95%         101         93%
Minnesota         45          98          84          92           2         100
Missouri          10          80          16          63           7          43
Nebraska          46          93         103          66          47          66
New York          18          67          10          70          13          62
Pennsylvania      81          89         257          10          15         100
Vermont           14          29         149          23           9          33
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  Developed by GAO from OBTS data. 

To determine whether juveniles were incarcerated at rates similar to
others in criminal court, we compared juvenile sentences with those
of other youth and young adults.  (See tables III.5 and III.6 in app. 
III for incarceration rates for other youth and young adults.) In the
two states with an "other youth population," Missouri and New York,
juvenile incarceration rates for serious violent and serious property
offenses were higher than incarceration rates for these offenses for
other youth.  For example, in Missouri, 80 percent of juveniles
sentenced were incarcerated for serious violent offenses compared
with 60 percent of other youth.  The juvenile incarceration rates for
drug offenses were lower than the rates for other youth in Missouri
and about equal to the rates for other youth in New York. 

Finally, we found no consistent pattern when comparing juvenile and
young adult incarceration rates (see table III.6 in app.  III).  For
some offenses juvenile incarceration rates were higher than young
adult incarceration rates, while for other offenses juvenile rates
were lower.  For example, in New York, the incarceration rate for
drug offenses was lower for juveniles, 62 percent, compared with 80
percent for young adults.  In contrast, in Nebraska, the
incarceration rates for serious violent offenses were higher for
juveniles, 93 percent, compared with 78 percent for young adults. 

In the seven states, the proportion of juveniles incarcerated for
serious property offenses was the same as the proportion incarcerated
for serious violent offenses but varied among the states.  Drug
offenders made up a smaller proportion of the total number of
juveniles incarcerated (see table 11).  In contrast, drug offenders
made up the largest proportion of other youth and young adults
incarcerated.  (See tables III.7 and III.8 in app.  III for the total
number of other youth and young adults incarcerated.)



                           Table 11
           
            Total Number of Juveniles Incarcerated
            for Serious Violent Offenses, Serious
           Property Offenses, and Drug Offenses in
                        1989 and 1990

                           Number of   Number of
                           juveniles   juveniles   Number of
                          incarcerat  incarcerat   juveniles
                              ed for      ed for  incarcerat
                             serious     serious      ed for
                             violent    property        drug
State                       offenses    offenses    offenses
------------------------  ----------  ----------  ----------
California                        88          54          94
Minnesota                         44          77           2
Missouri                           8          10           3
Nebraska                          43          68          31
New York                          12           7           8
Pennsylvania                      72          26          15
Vermont                            4          34           3
============================================================
Total                            271         276         156
------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  Developed by GAO using OBTS data. 


--------------------
\23 These states are California, Minnesota, Nebraska, and New York. 

\24 Incarceration rates equals the percentages of those juveniles
convicted who were sentenced to jail or prison as compared with all
juveniles convicted who received any sentence, including probation or
jail. 


      PROBATION AND SENTENCES
      OTHER THAN INCARCERATION
      RECEIVED BY JUVENILES TRIED
      IN CRIMINAL COURT FOR
      SERIOUS VIOLENT, SERIOUS
      PROPERTY, AND DRUG OFFENSES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :5.3

While most juveniles sentenced in criminal court were incarcerated,
some juveniles also received probation and other sentences in the
seven states we analyzed.  In fact, in five of the states, some
juveniles convicted of serious violent offenses received probation
sentences.  As shown in table 12, the percentages varied from 3
percent in California to 50 percent in Vermont. 



                                     Table 12
                     
                        Percent of Juveniles Convicted in
                      Criminal Court Receiving Sentences of
                        Probation or Sentences Other Than
                        Incarceration in Seven States for
                        Selected Offenses in 1989 and 1990


                            Other  Probat        Other                     Other
State      Probation    sentences     ion    sentences    Probation    sentences
-------  -----------  -----------  ------  -----------  -----------  -----------
Califor           3%           7%      5%           0%           6%           0%
 nia
Minneso            0            2       8            0            0            0
 ta
Missour           20            0      38            0           43           14
 i
Nebrask            4            0      23            8           15            0
 a
New               33            0      20           10           31            8
 York
Pennsyl            6            1       2            3            0            0
 vania
Vermont           50           21      25           46           11           22
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  Other sentences included (1) no court disposition or (2)
disposition or sentencing was deferred or suspended.  Percentages do
not add to 100 percent because incarceration rates were not included. 

Source:  Developed by GAO using OBTS data. 

Additionally, juveniles convicted of serious property or drug
offenses in four states received probation at higher rates than
juveniles convicted of serious violent offenses.  Overall, while
juveniles convicted of serious violent, serious property, and drug
offenses generally did not receive fines as their sentences, in two
states, a significant percentage of these juveniles were sentenced to
pay fines.  In Pennsylvania, 84 percent of juveniles convicted of
serious property offenses were fined, and in Vermont, 33 percent of
juveniles convicted of drug offenses were fined. 

According to the literature, criminal court judges consider the
severity of the offenses and the prior offense history of the
juvenile in making their sentencing decisions.  However, data
limitations precluded us from considering the prior offense history
in our analysis. 


   PROBATION WAS THE MOST COMMON
   DISPOSITION BY JUVENILE COURT
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :6

Our analysis of NCJJ data showed that probation was the most widely
used disposition in the juvenile court.  In 1992, in about 43 percent
of approximately 744,000 formal delinquency cases,\25

juveniles were placed on probation.  In addition, probation was the
most common disposition for all offense types.  A probation
disposition involves the court monitoring the juvenile's behavior,
helping the juvenile find a job, arranging in-home or out-of-home
care, or promoting wholesome leisure time activities.  Of the 57
percent of juveniles not placed on probation in 1992, about 27
percent of their cases were dismissed, 12 percent received some other
disposition, and 17 percent received placement (e.g., were placed in
a residential treatment program), as shown in table 13.  Finally, the
distribution of formal dispositions was similar during the 5-year
period, 1988 through 1992. 



                           Table 13
           
           Disposition of Formal Delinquency Cases,
               by Percentage, 1988 Through 1992

Disposition             1988    1989    1990    1991    1992
--------------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------
Transfer                1.2%    1.4%    1.3%    1.6%    1.6%
Placement               18.4    19.5    19.2    17.3    17.0
Probation               43.9    44.4    43.5    43.6    42.5
Dismissed               26.6    24.0    25.8    26.5    27.1
Other\a                  9.9    10.6    10.2    11.0    11.8
------------------------------------------------------------
\a Disposition of other may include fines, restitution, community
service, and referrals outside the court for services with minimal or
no further court involvement anticipated. 

Source:  Developed by GAO from NCJJ data. 

As shown in table 14, in 1992, formal cases received various
dispositions at similar rates for each offense type.  For example,
regardless of the offense, about 40 percent of juveniles were placed
on probation. 



                           Table 14
           
               Dispositions of Formal Cases, by
             Percentage and Offense Type in 1992

                                      Proper          Public
Disposition                   Person      ty   Drugs   order
----------------------------  ------  ------  ------  ------
Transfer                        2.4%    1.3%    3.1%    0.8%
Placement                       17.6    15.0    19.3    21.8
Probation                       39.2    46.1    39.2    37.2
Dismissed                       31.2    24.8    29.8    27.9
Other\a                          9.6    12.9     8.6    12.4
------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  Percentages may not add to 100 percent due to rounding. 

\a A disposition of "other" may include fines, restitution, community
service, and referrals outside the court for services with minimal or
no further court involvement anticipated. 

Source:  Developed by GAO from NCJJ data. 

While probation was the most common disposition for formal cases, 47
percent of informal juvenile cases were dismissed in 1992,\26

as shown in table 15.  Of the remaining 53 percent of the cases,
about 30 percent of the juveniles were placed on probation, 23
percent received some other disposition, and 0.4 percent were placed
in a residential treatment program.  Finally, as with formal cases,
the distribution of informal dispositions was similar during the
5-year period, 1988 through 1992, as shown in table 15.  Of the
approximately 730,000 informal delinquency cases disposed of in 1992,
about 47 percent were dismissed. 



                           Table 15
           
             Percent of Informal Cases by Type of
              Disposition for 1988 Through 1992

Disposition             1988    1989    1990    1991    1992
--------------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------
Placement               0.3%    0.4%    0.4%    0.3%    0.4%
Probation               30.5    26.2    28.3    28.2    29.9
Dismissed               48.6    54.1    51.3    48.2    47.1
Other\a                 20.6    19.2    20.1    23.2    22.7
------------------------------------------------------------
\a A disposition of "other" may include fines, restitution, community
service, and referrals outside the court for services with minimal or
no further court involvement anticipated. 

Source:  Developed by GAO from NCJJ data. 

For each offense type the distribution of informal dispositions was
similar.  For example, regardless of the offense, in about 30 percent
of informal cases, juveniles were placed on probation in 1992. 


--------------------
\25 Of the nearly 1.5 million delinquency cases filed in 1992, about
half (743,673) were handled through a formal process. 

\26 Possible reasons for dismissal included lack of evidence, offense
was petty or seen as low risk, or the juvenile and his or her family
had reimbursed the victim for damages. 


   THE FEW JUVENILES IN ADULT
   PRISONS WE VISITED WERE SUBJECT
   TO THE SAME POLICIES AND
   PROCEDURES AS ADULTS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :7

A 1991 survey\27 of inmates in state correctional facilities reported
that less than 1 percent of state inmates were age 17 or younger. 
Few juveniles were incarcerated in the seven adult facilities we
visited.  Further, those juveniles were generally to be treated the
same as the adult prisoners. 


--------------------
\27 This survey was conducted by the U.S.  Bureau of the Census for
the U.S.  Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. 


      JUVENILES IN ADULT PRISONS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :7.1

We could not find national estimates for the number of inmates at or
below the maximum age of juvenile court jurisdiction in each state. 

However, results of the 1991 Survey of Inmates in State Correctional
Facilities indicated that less than 1 percent of the 712,000 state
prison inmates were age 17 or younger.\28 In addition, during visits
to seven prisons in four states, we found that juveniles represented
a small number of the inmate population, at the time of our visit. 
For example, as shown in table 16, 31 of the 857 inmates at the
Western Youth Institution were age 17 or younger.  While these data
indicate that few juveniles were in the adult prison system at one
time, it does not include the number of inmates who committed their
offenses as juveniles and were sentenced to incarceration but are now
beyond the maximum age of juvenile court jurisdiction, as defined by
the state. 



                                     Table 16
                     
                         Data on Seven Facilities Visited

                                                             Number of
                                                           individuals
                                                           at or below
                                                           the maximum
              Maximum age                                       age of   Percent
              of juvenile  Correction           Facility      juvenile        of
                    court  al          Age of   populati         court  juvenile
State        jurisdiction  facility    inmates        on  jurisdiction   inmates
-----------  ------------  ----------  -------  --------  ------------  --------
Florida                17  Brevard     under         966           143       15%
                           Correction  25
                           al
                           Institutio
                           n

                           Florida     all           750             6        \a
                           Correction  ages
                           al
                           Institutio
                           n

                           Lancaster   under         635            90        14
                           Correction  25
                           al
                           Institutio
                           n

Michigan               16  Handlon     under       1,315            11        \a
                           Michigan    26
                           Training
                           Unit

                           Michigan    under       1,183             3        \a
                           Reformator  26
                           y

North                  15  Western     under         857            31         4
Carolina                   Youth       19
                           Institutio
                           n

Ohio                   17  Southeaste  all         1,945            10        \a
                           rn          ages
                           Correction
                           al
                           Institutio
                           n
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a Percent is less than 1. 

Source:  Developed by GAO from information provided by facility
officials at the time of our visit. 


--------------------
\28 This figure may include juveniles age 16 and 17 who are above the
maximum age of juvenile court jurisdiction of their state. 


      JUVENILES ARE TO BE TREATED
      SAME AS ADULTS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :7.2

According to prison officials at all of the locations we visited,
juveniles convicted in criminal court and sentenced to prison are
considered adults.  Generally, they are subject to the same polices
and procedures as other inmates regarding housing, health care
services, education, vocation and work programs, and recreational
activities.  In addition, they are to be afforded the same mail,
visitation, and telephone privileges.  However, some prison officials
pointed out that juveniles and youthful offenders received different
treatment at some facilities (e.g., they were provided with a menu
designed for their nutritional needs and they received more
educational opportunities).  See appendix V for a summary of the
confinement conditions for juveniles in seven adult correctional
facilities. 


---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :7.3

We are sending copies of this report to the Attorney General; the
Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention;
the Director, Office of Management and Budget; and other interested
parties.  Copies will also be made available to others upon request. 

Major contributors to this report are listed in appendix VI.  If you
have any questions about this report, please contact me on (202)
512-8777. 

Laurie E.  Ekstrand
Associate Director, Administration
 of Justice Issues


OBJECTIVES, SCOPE, AND METHODOLOGY
=========================================================== Appendix I

The 1992 reauthorization (P.L.  102-586) of the Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 (P.L.  93-415) mandated that we
study the processing of juveniles in criminal court.  Specifically,
we agreed with your Committees to

  provide the frequency to which juveniles have been sent to criminal
     court by judicial waiver, prosecutor direct filing, and
     statutory exclusion;

  analyze juvenile conviction rates and sentences of juveniles
     prosecuted in criminal court using the most current data;

  analyze the dispositions of juveniles in juvenile court; and

  analyze the conditions of confinement in adult correctional
     facilities for juveniles convicted in criminal court. 

We also agreed to summarize state laws governing the circumstances
under which juveniles can be sent to criminal court.  Further, we
noted the number of states that allowed criminal court judges to
transfer juvenile cases back to criminal court and the number of
states that allowed criminal court judges to impose juvenile court
sanctions. 

To address all objectives, we reviewed relevant literature.  To
determine the frequency to which juveniles are processed in criminal
court, we obtained national, state, and local court data.  Because
data were not available on the frequency of statutory exclusion, we
analyzed the statutory exclusion laws of 37 states and the District
of Columbia to determine the types of cases being excluded from
juvenile court.  To determine sentences of juveniles convicted in
criminal court, we analyzed conviction rates, conviction offenses,
and incarceration rates and sentences for juveniles prosecuted in
criminal court.  To determine the dispositions of juveniles in
juvenile court, we analyzed the offenses and dispositions of
juveniles in juvenile court.  To analyze conditions of confinement
for juveniles in adult correctional facilities, we conducted site
visits at seven adult prisons in four states.  We classified cases as
juveniles on the basis of the defendants' age at the time of arrest
because data were not available for the defendants' age at the time
of the offense.  As a result, we underestimated the number of
juveniles in criminal court.  To provide a summary of the state laws,
we reviewed the statutes for 50 states and the District of Columbia. 
Finally, we obtained additional perspectives on juvenile justice
issues by mailing a survey to a national sample of prosecutors'
offices and interviewing 15 juvenile court judges in 7 states. 

The act required us to compare the sentences of juveniles tried in
criminal court with those processed in juvenile court for similar
offenses.  On the basis of discussions with juvenile justice
officials, this type of comparison should recognize the selection
process by which juveniles are sent to criminal court or remain in
juvenile court.  The officials said that juveniles sent to criminal
court are a select subset of all juveniles.  The fact that they are
selected for criminal court indicates they are different from
juveniles processed in juvenile court.  When sending juveniles to
criminal court, decisionmakers (e.g., judges) generally consider that
these juveniles have (1) relatively more serious criminal behaviors,
(2) more extensive criminal histories, (3) less amenability to
treatment, or (4) a greater likelihood of being a threat to the
community than juveniles who are processed in juvenile court.  Also,
juveniles processed in criminal court are subject to a different
sentencing process than those in juvenile court.  Both factors mean
that comparisons between the two groups of juveniles would be of
nonequivalent groups.  As a result, differences or similarities in
their sentences would be difficult to interpret.  However, subject to
these caveats, we provided data on the sentencing outcomes for
juveniles processed in these two courts.  We could not determine the
extent to which sentencing outcomes were due to differences in
individual characteristics of juveniles in the respective courts or
sentencing processes of the courts. 


   REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:1

To develop an understanding of the issues associated with processing
juveniles in criminal court, we reviewed relevant literature
identified in bibliographies provided by the National Center for
Juvenile Justice (NCJJ) and the Department of Justice's Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).  From our review
of the literature, we determined the three principal methods for
sending juveniles to criminal court and identified the states'
policies on housing juveniles in adult prisons. 


   NATIONAL DATA ON THE FREQUENCY
   OF JUDICIAL WAIVER
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:2

We used juvenile court data collected annually by NCJJ to determine
the number of juvenile cases processed in criminal court due to
judicial waiver.  Each year, NCJJ collects juvenile court processing
data and assigns weights to the data, which permits projecting the
data to produce national estimates of cases disposed by all state
juvenile justice systems.\1 OJJDP publishes the weighted data in its
annual Juvenile Court Statistics. 

Using the National Juvenile Court Data Archive (NJCDA), we developed
statistics for a 5-year period from calendar year 1988 to 1992. 
Specifically, we developed national estimates of the number of
juvenile cases waived to criminal court by juvenile court judges
(judicial waiver).  In addition, we developed statistics on the
offense profiles and demographics of juveniles, whose cases were
waived to criminal court. 


--------------------
\1 In 1991, for example, the following 23 states provided juvenile
court case-level data to NCJJ:  Alabama, Arizona (Maricopa county
only), Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland,
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New
York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota,
Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.  In 1990 and 1991,
California reported data from several of its larger counties,
representing 40 percent of the state's population that is age 17 or
younger.  In addition, some jurisdictions in seven other states
reported court case-level data that were used in generating the
national estimates.  In all, data from 1,504 jurisdictions covering
57 percent of the nation's youth at risk were used to produce the
1991 national estimates.  NCJJ's estimates of the number and
characteristics of delinquency cases and cases that were waived by
juvenile courts were on the bases of the assumption that the
characteristics of cases in counties that did not report juvenile
court statistics were similar to those counties of similar size that
did report statistics to NCJJ.  The details of the estimation
procedures can be found in Juvenile Court Statistics.  The national
estimates were not generated by a probability sample.  NCJJ has
conducted, however, tests of the validity of the national estimates
by comparing them with counts of referrals (as reported by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports) made by law
enforcement agencies to juvenile courts. 


   ANALYSES OF THE FREQUENCY OF
   JUDICIAL WAIVER IN SELECTED
   STATES
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:3

NCJJ's NJCDA national data files did not contain sufficient
information for analyzing judicial waivers directly.  However, some
of the Center's state-specific files\2 have a wider range of data
elements (including prior offense histories) that facilitate such
analyses.  For example, in addition to data showing the types of
offenses and whether cases were waived, some variables that we
analyzed were the number of previous referrals and/or adjudications
and the metropolitan status of the court.  Thus, in order to conduct
more detailed analyses of judicial waiver, we judgmentally selected
the following 7 states from a total of 25 states that provided court
data to NCJJ:  Arizona, California, Florida, Missouri, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, and Utah.  In addition to geographical coverage,
other factors we considered in selecting these seven states were that
(1) collectively, these states' juvenile justice systems reflected a
diverse range of processes for handling youthful offenders and (2)
the states' data files contained a sufficient number of variables
relevant to our analyses of judicial waiver. 

For each of the seven states selected, we obtained a copy of NCJJ's
computerized data files for calendar years 1990 and 1991, the most
recent years for which consistent data were available.\3 Then, using
the 1990 and 1991 data files, we completed analyses that compared the
waiver rates in different states; the waiver rates for defendants of
different genders, races, and ages; and the waiver rates of cases
processed in juvenile courts with different metropolitan status. 


--------------------
\2 We used data that were housed in and made available by the NJCDA,
which is maintained by NCJJ and supported by a grant from OJJDP. 
These data were originally collected by the Maricopa County, AZ,
Juvenile Court Center; the Alameda County, CA, Probation Department;
the Los Angeles County, CA, Probation Department; the San Francisco
County, CA, Juvenile Probation Department; the San Joaquin County,
CA, Probation Department; the County of Ventura, CA, Corrections
Services Agency; the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative
Services; the Missouri State Division of Children and Youth Services;
the Pennsylvania Center for Juvenile Justice Training and Research;
the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice; and the Utah
Juvenile Court.  Neither the original data collectors nor NCJJ bear
any responsibility for our analyses or interpretations of the data. 

\3 For trend purposes, additional data files (i.e., for years before
1990) would have been desirable; however, the 1990-1991 data files
were the only years that had a sufficient range of variables common
to all seven states to facilitate our planned analyses. 


   STATE AND LOCAL DATA AVAILABLE
   ON THE FREQUENCY OF PROSECUTOR
   DIRECT FILING CASES
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:4

To obtain data on the frequency of juvenile cases directly filed in
criminal court at the discretion of prosecutors, we contacted State
Court Administrator Offices in the 10 states with direct filing laws. 
Statewide data on prosecutor direct filing cases were available in 5
of the 10 states that have direct filing laws.  To obtain data for
the other states, we contacted some of the largest counties/parishes
in those states to get some measure of the frequency of prosecutor
direct filing.  We also contacted court officials in the District of
Columbia to determine the frequency of direct filing in the District. 


   ANALYSIS OF STATUTORY EXCLUSION
   STATUTES IN 37 STATES AND THE
   DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:5

To gain some perspective on the type of juvenile cases processed in
criminal court due to state statutes that exclude them from juvenile
court, we analyzed the statutes in 37 states and the District of
Columbia.  We categorized the states according to whether their
statutory exclusion laws focused on (1) juveniles charged with
serious violent offenses or other serious offenses or (2) juveniles
with prior court records. 


   NATIONAL DATA ON THE NUMBER OF
   JUVENILE CASES SENT TO CRIMINAL
   COURT FOR ALL METHODS
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:6

In an attempt to collect data on the number of juveniles sent to
criminal court by all possible methods, we developed a survey to be
completed by juvenile justice specialists in all 50 states and the
District of Columbia.  We received responses from 19 states and the
District of Columbia.  Nine of the responses indicated that the data
we requested were not available.  Due to the low response rate and
unavailability of data, we were only able to use this survey as an
indicator of the relative frequency in which juveniles are sent to
criminal court by the three methods.  In following up with
nonrespondents by telephone calls, they said that the data we
requested were not available. 


   STATE SPECIFIC ANALYSIS OF
   SENTENCES OF JUVENILES
   PROSECUTED IN CRIMINAL COURT
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:7

To identify the types of sentences juveniles receive when processed
in criminal court, we used the Bureau of Justice Statistics's (BJS)
Offender Based Transaction Statistics (OBTS) data sets.\4 OBTS
focuses on arrested, alleged offenders and contains information on
offender characteristics, patterns of arrest, prior criminal
activities, prosecution activities, court action, and sentences.  At
the time of our review, OBTS contained data for the years 1975
through 1990 for approximately 15 states.  We analyzed data from
California, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania,
and Vermont for 1989 and 1990 combined.  We chose these states
because they represented different maximum ages of juvenile court
jurisdictions, different laws governing which juveniles may be sent
to criminal court, and different geographic regions.  We used these
data to analyze conviction rates, offenses, and incarceration rates
of juveniles prosecuted in criminal court.  In addition, we compared
these rates with those of "other youth" and young adults (persons age
18 through 24) to gain a perspective on how juveniles are treated
relative to others prosecuted in criminal court. 


--------------------
\4 We attempted to use the BJS National Judicial Reporting Program
(NJRP) data set.  NJRP is a data set that contains information on the
sentences of convicted felons received in state courts in 1988 and
1990.  The data set contains a probability sample of convicted felons
sentenced in state courts.  Because of missing data that identified
the age of the convicted felons, we could not identify juveniles and
therefore could not use this data to analyze juvenile sentences in
criminal court. 


   PROSECUTOR SURVEY
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:8

To gather prosecutors opinions on data related to the processsing of
juveniles in criminal court, we obtained 226 completed questionnaires
from a nationally representative, probability sample of district
prosecutor offices that deal with juveniles in juvenile courts.  Our
final sample was identified by first contacting a stratified
probability sample of county prosecutors in 290 of the 3,110 counties
in the United States.  To gather information about both large and
small counties, the sample was stratified on the basis of the number
of felony convictions in 1985.  The 1985 felony convictions were used
first to draw this sample of 290 counties in 1986 for the National
Judicial Reporting Program. 

We developed and pretested the questionnaire items with advice from
experts at NCJJ and BJS as well as selected prosecutor offices.  The
survey was mailed in March 1994.  Two sets of follow-up telephone
calls and two additional mailings were conducted between May and
July. 

We contacted all 290 selected counties to determine whether they had
juvenile prosecutors and, if so, the counties over which they had
jurisdiction.  We determined that 270 of the 290 counties were
eligible members of our study population of prosecutor offices that
dealt with juvenile offenders in juvenile court.  After weighing on
the basis of the probabilities of selection, we estimated that the
study population consisted of approximately 2,118 such juvenile
prosecutors in the United States.  The number of juvenile prosecutors
(2,118) is less than the number of counties (3,110) partly because
some counties are consolidated under a single juvenile prosecutor and
partly because some jurisdictions do not have prosecutors that appear
in juvenile court.  Of the 270 sampled prosecutors from the study
population, 226 responded, for a response rate of 84 percent. 

All figures presented in this report were estimated from the returned
questionnaires to the population of the estimated 2,118 juvenile
prosecutor offices.  All sample surveys are subject to sampling
error, which refers to the extent to which the results may differ
from what would have been obtained if the entire population had been
surveyed.  The size of sampling errors in any survey depends largely
on the number of respondents and the amount of variability in the
data from the returned surveys.  In this report, all estimates are
made at the 95-percent confidence level with a sampling error of less
than 10 percent.  This means that, if we had drawn repeated samples
from the entire study population of prosecutor offices, 19 out of 20
samples would have produced estimates within 10 percent of the true
proportion in the total population. 

In addition to the reported sampling errors, any survey may be
subject to nonsampling errors as well.  For example, differences in
how a particular question is interpreted, in the sources of
information that are available to respondents, or in the types of
people who do not respond, can introduce unwanted variability into
survey results. 

We included steps in the data collection and data analysis stages to
minimize such nonsampling errors.  We selected the sample from a
complete list of all counties, and we pretested our questionnaire
with experts and members of the target population.  Our extensive
follow-up efforts were designed to maximize the response rate, and we
achieved a final response rate of 84 percent.  All data were keyed
twice and verified during data entry, and all computer analyses were
reviewed by a second independent analyst. 


   NATIONAL DATA ON THE
   DISPOSITIONS OF JUVENILE COURT
   CASES
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:9

To develop national statistics on the types of dispositions used in
juvenile court, we used the NCJJ's NJCDA data files.  We developed
national estimates to compare (1) the number of juvenile cases
processed informally versus formally, (2) the dispositions of cases
handled formally versus informally, and (3) the types of dispositions
for various crime types. 


   SITE VISITS TO REVIEW
   CONDITIONS OF CONFINEMENT FOR
   JUVENILES IN ADULT PRISONS
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:10

To obtain descriptive information on the conditions of confinement
for juveniles in adult prisons, we visited seven prisons in Florida,
Michigan, North Carolina, and Ohio.  In judgmentally selecting states
to visit, we considered (1) the state's maximum age of juvenile court
jurisdiction in each state, (2) whether juveniles were housed with
younger inmates (e.g., inmates under 25) or inmates of all ages, and
(3) the number of inmates under the age of 18. 

In each state, we visited the prisons that housed the majority of
inmates under age 18.  We visited a total of seven prisons--six that
housed males and one that housed females.  During our visits, we
interviewed prison officials, using a structured interview format. 
While we did not verify the information provided, we toured the
facilities to observe the housing units, health services facilities,
education and vocation classrooms, and recreation facilities. 


   JUDGES SURVEY ADDRESSING
   JUDICIAL WAIVER ISSUES
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:11

We conducted structured interviews with 15 juvenile court judges in 7
states to obtain information on methods for sending juveniles to
criminal court.  Judges were chosen randomly and interviewed on the
basis of their availability.  We attempted to contact two or three
judges in the juvenile court jurisdictions that we visited during our
site visits. 


   PROSECUTOR SURVEY AND THEIR
   RESPONSES
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix I:12

The three questions we asked prosecutors and their responses to them
are as follows: 



(See figure in printed edition.)



(See figure in printed edition.)


JUDICIAL WAIVER DATA AND ANALYSIS
FOR SEVEN STATES
========================================================== Appendix II


   ARIZONA
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix II:1

Data - 1990 and 1991 combined. 

Number of formal delinquency cases - 17,320. 

Number of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - 397. 

Percent of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - 2.3. 



                          Table II.1
           
              Rate and Percent of Juvenile Cases
           Waived by Offense Type in Arizona, 1990
                           and 1991

                                                  Percent of
                                         Waiver       waived
Offense type at disposition                rate        cases
---------------------------------------  ------  -----------
Violent                                    7.0%        46.4%
Property                                    1.6         42.3
Drugs                                       3.8          5.8
Weapons                                     1.1          0.8
Public order or other                       0.6          4.8
------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 



                         Table II.2
          
          Percent of Juvenile Cases Waived by Sex,
          Age, and Race in Arizona, 1990 and 1991


                       16 or
Male      Female       older     White     Black     Other
------  --------  ----------  --------  --------  --------
99.0%       1.0%       91.9%     35.5%     23.7%     40.8%
----------------------------------------------------------
Note:  Percentages may not equal 100 due to rounding. 

Source:  NCJJ. 



                                    Table II.3
                     
                        Selected Juvenile Waiver Rates in
                              Arizona, 1990 and 1991


                                                                          Public
                                                                           order
Factors                         Violent  Property   Drugs   Weapons     or other
-----------------------------  --------  --------  ------  --------  -----------
Age
16 or older                       13.4%      3.9%    5.6%      2.0%         1.2%
Under 16 years                      1.5       0.1     0.8       0.0          0.0
Location
Metropolitan                        7.0       1.6     3.8       1.1          0.6
Prior referrals
None                                1.9       0.2     0.5       0.0          0.8
1 or 2                              5.4       0.7     2.5       0.0          0.2
3 or more                          14.5       4.4    10.3       3.7          0.8
Gender
Male                                8.3       1.8     4.4       1.1          0.7
Female                              0.2       0.2     0.0       0.0          0.0
Race
Black                               9.1       2.6    10.9       1.5          0.9
White                               5.1       1.3     0.8       1.1          0.5
Other                               8.1       1.8     3.6       0.9          0.5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 


   CALIFORNIA
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix II:2

Data - 1990 and 1991 combined (data from 5 counties). 

Number of formal delinquency cases - 64,275. 

Number of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - 310. 

Percent of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - 0.5. 



                          Table II.4
           
              Rate and Percent of Juvenile Cases
            Waived by Offense Type in California,
                        1990 and 1991

                                                  Percent of
                                         Waiver       waived
Offense type at referral                   rate        cases
---------------------------------------  ------  -----------
Violent                                    1.5%        85.1%
Property                                    0.1          6.4
Drugs                                       0.2          4.5
Weapons                                     0.1          1.3
Public order or other                       0.1          1.3
Indeterminate                               0.4          1.3
------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 



                         Table II.5
          
          Percent of Juvenile Cases Waived by Sex,
           Age, and Race in California, 1990 and
                            1991


                       16 or
Male      Female       older     White     Black     Other
------  --------  ----------  --------  --------  --------
98.4%       1.6%       98.4%      5.5%     34.3%     60.2%
----------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 



                                    Table II.6
                     
                        Selected Juvenile Waiver Rates in
                            California, 1990 and 1991


                                                                          Public
                                     Violen  Proper          Weapon        order
Factors                                   t      ty   Drugs       s     or other
-----------------------------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -----------
Age
16 or older                            2.4%    0.1%    0.2%    0.2%         0.1%
Under 16 years                           \a     0.0     0.1     0.0           \a
Location
Metropolitan                            1.5     0.1     0.2     0.1          0.1
Gender
Male                                    1.7     0.1     0.2     0.1          0.1
Female                                  0.1     0.1     0.0     0.0          0.0
Race
Black                                   1.3     0.1     0.2     0.1          0.1
White                                   0.5     0.1     0.4     0.0          0.1
Other                                   1.9     0.1     0.1     0.1          0.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a Less than 0.1 percent. 

Source:  NCJJ. 


   FLORIDA
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix II:3

Data - 1990 and 1991 combined. 

Number of formal delinquency cases - 148,976. 

Number of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - 1,389. 

Percent of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - 0.9. 



                          Table II.7
           
              Rate and Percent of Juvenile Cases
           Waived by Offense Type in Florida, 1990
                           and 1991

                                                  Percent of
                                         Waiver       waived
Offense type at disposition                rate        cases
---------------------------------------  ------  -----------
Violent                                    1.8%        35.7%
Property                                    0.8         39.2
Drugs                                       2.4         13.7
Weapons                                     0.7          1.1
Public order or other                       0.5          5.4
------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 



                         Table II.8
          
          Percent of Juvenile Cases Waived by Sex,
          Age, and Race in Florida, 1990 and 1991


                       16 or
Male      Female       older     White     Black     Other
------  --------  ----------  --------  --------  --------
95.5%       4.5%       76.2%     39.4%     60.1%      0.4%
----------------------------------------------------------
Note:  Percentages may not equal 100 due to rounding. 

Source:  NCJJ. 



                                    Table II.9
                     
                        Selected Juvenile Waiver Rates in
                              Florida, 1990 and 1991


                                                                          Public
                                     Violen  Proper          Weapon        order
Factors                                   t      ty   Drugs       s     or other
-----------------------------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -----------
Age
16 or older                            2.6%    1.4%    3.0%    1.1%         0.7%
Under 16 years                          1.1     0.3     1.2     0.3          0.2
Location
Metropolitan                            1.8     0.8      .5     0.8          0.5
Nonmetropolitan                         1.1     0.6     1.4     0.0          0.9
Prior referrals
None                                    0.9     0.2     1.1     0.3          0.5
1 or 2                                  1.2     0.4     1.7     0.9          0.2
3 or more                               2.9     1.5     3.8     1.1          0.6
Gender
Male                                    2.0     0.9     2.5     0.8          0.5
Female                                  0.6     0.2     1.8     0.0          0.2
Race
Black                                   2.3     0.7     3.0     0.9          0.5
White                                   1.0     0.8     1.2     0.5          0.5
Other                                   0.0     1.6     0.0     0.0          0.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 


   MISSOURI
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix II:4

Data - 1990 and 1991 (combined). 

Number of formal delinquency cases - 15,787. 

Number of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - 464. 

Percent of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - 2.9. 



                         Table II.10
           
              Rate and Percent of Juvenile Cases
           Waived by Offense Type in Missouri, 1990
                           and 1991

                                                  Percent of
                                         Waiver       waived
Offense type at disposition                rate        cases
---------------------------------------  ------  -----------
Violent                                    5.3%        41.6%
Property                                    1.7         26.9
Drugs                                       6.6         12.5
Weapons                                     2.4         19.0
------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 



                        Table II.11
          
          Percent of Juvenile Cases Waived by Sex,
          Age, and Race in Missouri, 1990 and 1991


                       16 or
Male      Female       older     White     Black     Other
------  --------  ----------  --------  --------  --------
98.7%       1.3%       77.0%     29.5%     70.5%        0%
----------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 



                         Table II.12
           
              Selected Juvenile Waiver Rates in
                   Missouri, 1990 and 1991


                              Violen  Proper          Weapon
Factors                            t      ty   Drugs       s
----------------------------  ------  ------  ------  ------
Age
16 or older                    11.7%    4.4%   11.1%    5.6%
Under 16 years                   2.3     0.4     2.6     0.7
Location
Metropolitan                     5.5     1.4     6.8     2.5
Nonmetropolitan                  3.7     2.4     4.0     1.6
Prior referrals
None                             2.3     0.8     0.0     0.8
1 or 2                           2.6     0.5     3.1     0.3
3 or more                        9.4     3.2    12.0     4.2
Gender
Male                             6.0     1.8     7.0     2.7
Female                           0.4     0.3     0.0     0.4
Race
Black                            7.4     1.8     7.5     3.2
White                            2.4     1.6     3.3     1.3
Other                            0.0     0.0     0.0     0.0
------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 


   PENNSYLVANIA
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix II:5

Data - 1990 and 1991 (combined). 

Number of formal delinquency cases - 41,920. 

Number of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - 857. 

Percent of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - 2.0. 



                         Table II.13
           
              Rate and Percent of Juvenile Cases
           Waived by Offense Type in Pennsylvania,
                        1990 and 1991

                                                  Percent of
                                         Waiver       waived
Offense type at referral                   rate        cases
---------------------------------------  ------  -----------
Violent                                    2.4%        40.5%
Property                                    1.6         37.6
Drugs                                       3.8         19.3
Weapons                                     0.5          0.5
Public order or other                       1.0          1.6
Indeterminate                               0.7          0.7
------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 



                        Table II.14
          
          Percent of Juvenile Cases Waived by Sex,
          Age, and Race in Pennsylvania, 1990 and
                            1991


                       16 or
Male      Female       older     White     Black     Other
------  --------  ----------  --------  --------  --------
98.2%       1.8%       96.3%     31.8%     55.6%     12.5%
----------------------------------------------------------
Note:  Percentages may not equal 100 due to rounding. 

Source:  NCJJ. 



                                   Table II.15
                     
                        Selected Juvenile Waiver Rates in
                           Pennsylvania, 1990 and 1991


                                                                          Public
                                     Violen  Proper          Weapon        order
Factors                                   t      ty   Drugs       s     or other
-----------------------------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -----------
Age
16 or older                            4.8%    3.2%    5.3%    0.7%         1.8%
Under 16 years                          0.2     0.1     0.5     0.3          0.0
Location
Metropolitan                            2.4     1.5     3.8     0.4          1.1
Nonmetropolitan                         2.0     2.8     6.0     4.2          0.6
Prior referrals
None                                    0.8     0.5     3.0     0.0          1.1
1 or 2                                  2.5     2.1     4.4     0.0          0.8
3 or more                               5.8     5.7     4.9     0.0          3.2
Gender
Male                                    2.8     1.8     3.9     0.6          1.2
Female                                  0.2     0.2     2.4     0.0          0.0
Race
Black                                   3.0     1.6     3.9     0.8          0.9
White                                   1.4     1.6     1.6     0.0          1.0
Other                                   2.6     2.1     5.3     0.0          2.4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 


   SOUTH CAROLINA
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix II:6

Data - 1990 and 1991 (combined). 

Number of formal delinquency cases - 11,146. 

Number of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - 91. 

Percent of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - 0.8. 



                         Table II.16
           
              Rate and Percent of Juvenile Cases
               Waived by Offense Type in South
                   Carolina, 1990 and 1991

                                                  Percent of
                                         Waiver       waived
Offense type at disposition                rate        cases
---------------------------------------  ------  -----------
Violent                                    3.6%        64.8%
Property                                    0.3         17.6
Drugs                                       3.1         13.2
Weapons                                     0.6          2.2
Public order or                             0.1          2.2
 other
------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 



                        Table II.17
          
          Percent of Juvenile Cases Waived by Sex,
           Age, and Race in South Carolina, 1990
                          and 1991


                       16 or
Male      Female       older     White     Black     Other
------  --------  ----------  --------  --------  --------
97.8%       2.2%       83.5%     14.3%     85.7%        0%
----------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 



                                   Table II.18
                     
                     Selected Juvenile Waiver Rates in South
                             Carolina, 1990 and 1991


                                                                          Public
                                     Violen  Proper          Weapon        order
Factors                                   t      ty   Drugs       s     or other
-----------------------------------  ------  ------  ------  ------  -----------
Age
16 or older                            9.8%    1.0%    5.2%    0.9%         0.2%
Under 16 years                          0.9     0.1     1.0     0.5          0.0
Location
Metropolitan                            4.5     0.4     2.7     0.5          0.1
Nonmetropolitan                         2.4     0.3     3.9     0.8          0.0
Prior referrals
None                                    1.6     0.1     2.3     0.0          0.0
1 or 2                                  5.9     0.5     3.5     1.6          0.1
3 or more                               5.7     0.6     4.7     0.0          0.0
Gender
Male                                    4.0     0.4     3.2     0.7          0.1
Female                                  0.9     0.0     0.0     0.0          0.0
Race
Black                                   4.4     0.4     3.8     0.8          0.1
White                                   1.6     0.2     0.0     0.0          0.1
Other                                   0.0     0.0     0.0     0.0          0.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  NCJJ. 


   UTAH
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix II:7

Data - 1990 and 1991 (combined). 

Number of formal delinquency cases - 54,990. 

Number of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - 19. 

Percent of formal delinquency cases judicially waived
to criminal court - Less than 0.1 percent. 



                         Table II.19
           
              Rate and Percent of Juvenile Cases
           Waived by Offense Type in Utah, 1990 and
                             1991

                                                  Percent of
                                         Waiver       waived
Offense type at disposition              rate\a        cases
---------------------------------------  ------  -----------
Violent                                                21.0%
Property                                               79.0%
------------------------------------------------------------
\a Offense specific waiver rates were not computed due to the small
universe of waived cases. 

Source:  NCJJ. 



                        Table II.20
          
          Percent of Juvenile Cases Waived by Sex,
            Age, and Race in Utah, 1990 and 1991


                       16 or
Male      Female       older     White     Black     Other
------  --------  ----------  --------  --------  --------
100%        0.0%       89.6%     52.6%     10.5%     36.8%
----------------------------------------------------------
Note:  Percentages may not equal 100 due to rounding. 

Source:  NCJJ. 


   DETAILS OF ANALYSIS OF WAIVER
   RATES
-------------------------------------------------------- Appendix II:8

We did the following analysis using the data from tables II.3, II.6,
II.9, II.12, II.15, and II.18.  However, our analysis was limited to
the variables for which data were available in the six states.\1

Age - In the six states we examined, juveniles age 16 or older were
more likely to have their cases waived than juveniles under age 16
years for all three offense types.  However, the likelihood that
older juveniles would have their cases waived than younger juveniles
was much larger in some states than in others.  For example, in
Arizona older juveniles charged with property offenses were 39 times
more likely to have their cases waived than were younger juveniles
charged with such offenses; while in Florida, older juveniles charged
with property offenses were only 5 times more likely to have their
cases waived than younger juveniles.  While waiver rates were
somewhat higher in four of the six states for violent offenses than
for property or drug offenses, the rates varied among the states
within each age category.  For example, older juveniles charged with
property offenses were 44 times more likely to have their cases
waived in Missouri than in California, while younger juveniles
charged with violent offenses were 58 times more likely to have their
cases waived in Missouri than in California. 

Gender - Males were more likely than females to have their cases
waived within each offense type in the six states we analyzed.  The
extent of the likelihood again varied by state.  For example, in
Arizona males charged with violent offenses were 42 times more likely
to have their cases waived than females in Arizona, while such males
were 17 times more likely to have their cases waived than females in
California.  In some states, the likelihood was more apparent for
those charged with violent offenses than for those charged with
either property or drug offenses.  For males, juveniles charged with
violent offenses had higher waiver rates than for males charged with
drugs or property offenses in three of the six states.  In the
remaining three states, males charged with drug offenses had higher
waiver rates.  Waiver rates for each offense type also differed
across states for males.  For example, males charged with property
offenses in Arizona or Missouri were 18 times more likely to have
their cases waived than males in California. 

Race - In four states, blacks were more likely than whites to have
their cases waived for violent, property, and drug offenses.  For
violent offenses, the differential rates are fairly consistent across
states, with black juveniles having waiver rates from 1.8 times to
3.1 times higher than whites.  The differences varied more widely for
drug offenses.  In California, black juveniles were half as likely as
white juveniles to have their cases waived, while in Pennsylvania
black juveniles were more than twice as likely to have their cases
waived than whites.  There were some large differences, however; for
example, for juveniles charged with drug offenses, Arizona's waiver
rates for whites were twice those of California; while for blacks,
Arizona's rates were 55 times those of California. 

Locality - In the four NCJJ states with data on metropolitan and
nonmetropolitan courts, some small differences did exist but were not
consistent across offense types within the same state.  For example,
in Missouri, waiver rates in metropolitan areas were higher for
violent and drug offenses but lower for property offenses than in
nonmetropolitan areas.  The waiver rate was highest for drug offenses
in all four states in nonmetropolitan areas and in three of the four
states in metropolitan areas.  In nonmetropolitan areas in
Pennsylvania, juveniles charged with violent offenses were less
likely to have their cases waived than those charged with drugs or
property offenses.  The likelihood of cases being waived in each type
of locality varied somewhat for the offense types among the four
states, particularly for property offenses.  For example, juveniles
charged with property offenses in metropolitan areas in Pennsylvania
were almost 4 times more likely to have their cases waived than were
juveniles in South Carolina, while those charged with property
offenses in nonmetropolitan areas of Pennsylvania were 9 times more
likely to have their cases waived than those in South Carolina. 

Prior Referrals - In the five states with data, waiver rates
generally increased with the number of prior referrals for all five
states and most offense types.  We categorized referrals into three
groups:  (1) none, (2) one or two, and (3) three or more.  The larger
increases usually occurred between the second and third categories. 
For example, in Arizona, juveniles charged with violent offenses and
who had one or two prior referrals were 3 times more likely to have
their cases waived than those with no referrals, while juveniles
charged with violent offenses with three or more referrals were 8
times more likely to be referred than those with no referrals.  The
states differed in the rates at which they waived cases for these
offense types in each prior referral group.  The differences were
strongest for juveniles charged with property offenses.  For example,
considering only those with three or more prior referrals, the
greatest difference for juveniles charged with violent offenses was
found between Arizona and Florida, where Arizona's waiver rate for
these juveniles was 5 times greater than Florida's.  However, for
juveniles charged with property offenses, the greatest difference was
found between Pennsylvania and South Carolina, where Pennsylvania's
waiver rate was almost 10 times greater than in South Carolina. 


--------------------
\1 Data were not available for Utah. 


CONVICTION RATES FOR OTHER YOUTH
AND YOUNG ADULTS
========================================================= Appendix III



                                   Table III.1
                     
                     Conviction Rates and the Number of Other
                      Youth Prosecuted in Criminal Court in
                      Two States for Selected Offenses, 1989
                                     and 1990


St
at       Number      Percent       Number      Percent       Number      Percent
e    prosecuted    convicted   prosecuted    convicted   prosecuted    convicted
--  -----------  -----------  -----------  -----------  -----------  -----------
Mi          223          43%        1,015          38%          261          36%
 s
 s
 o
 u
 r
 i
Ne       12,047           50       11,674           64        7,049           74
 w
 Y
 o
 r
 k
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  This table includes the most prevalent offense types for which
juveniles were prosecuted. 

Source:  Developed by GAO using OBTS data. 



                                   Table III.2
                     
                     Conviction Rates and the Number of Young
                        Adults (Ages 18-24) Prosecuted in
                        Criminal Court in Seven States for
                         Selected Offenses, 1989 and 1990


St
at       Number      Percent       Number      Percent       Number      Percent
e    prosecuted    convicted   prosecuted    convicted   prosecuted    convicted
--  -----------  -----------  -----------  -----------  -----------  -----------
Ca       12,629          82%       18,434          89%       23,662          81%
 l
 i
 f
 o
 r
 n
 i
 a
Mi        1,825           90        5,417           89        1,517           77
 n
 n
 e
 s
 o
 t
 a
Mi        1,222           53        4,359           48        1,794           48
 s
 s
 o
 u
 r
 i
Ne          925           79        2,113           82          892           79
 b
 r
 a
 s
 k
 a
Ne       38,592           52       34,781           67       36,345           72
 w
 Y
 o
 r
 k
Pe        9,431           74       15,203           74        2,491           81
 n
 n
 s
 y
 l
 v
 a
 n
 i
 a
Ve          212           91          812           98          135           90
 r
 m
 o
 n
 t
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  This table includes the most prevalent offense types for which
juveniles were prosecuted. 

Source:  Developed by GAO using OBTS data. 



                         Table III.3
           
             Percent of Other Youth Convicted in
           Criminal Court by Offense, 1989 and 1990

                                      Percen  Percen
                                           t       t
                                      convic  convic
                               Total  ted of  ted of  Percen
                              number  seriou  seriou       t
                                  of       s       s  convic
                               other  violen  proper  ted of
                               youth       t      ty    drug
                              convic  offens  offens  offens
State                            ted      es      es      es
----------------------------  ------  ------  ------  ------
Missouri                         705     14%     54%     13%
New York                      21,665      28      34      24
------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  Percents may not equal 100 percent due to rounding and the
exclusion of such offense types as weapons, indeterminate property,
public order, and traffic offenses. 

Source:  Developed by GAO using OBTS data. 



                         Table III.4
           
             Percent of Young Adults (Ages 18-24)
           Convicted in Criminal Court by Offense,
                        1989 and 1990

                                      Percen  Percen
                                           t       t
                                      convic  convic
                               Total  ted of  ted of  Percen
                              number  seriou  seriou       t
                                  of       s       s  convic
                               young  violen  proper  ted of
                              adults       t      ty    drug
                              convic  offens  offens  offens
State                            ted      es      es      es
----------------------------  ------  ------  ------  ------
California                    51,570     20%     32%     37%
Minnesota                      8,427      19      57      14
Missouri                       4,259      15      49      20
Nebraska                       3,972      18      44      18
New York                      78,978      25      29      33
Pennsylvania                  30,565      23      37       7
Vermont                        1,510      13      53       8
------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  Percents may not equal 100 percent due to rounding and the
exclusion of such offense types as weapons, indeterminate property,
and public order. 

Source:  Developed by GAO using OBTS data. 



                                   Table III.5
                     
                     Percent of Other Youth Incarcerated and
                         the Total Number of Other Youth
                      Sentenced for Serious Violent, Serious
                      Property, and Drug Offenses, 1989 and
                                       1990


              Number     Percent                 Percent                 Percent
              senten  incarcerat      Number  incarcerat      Number  incarcerat
State            ced          ed   sentenced          ed   sentenced          ed
------------  ------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Missouri          85         60%         355         49%          96         66%
New York       4,144          54       4,533          41       4,513          63
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  Developed by GAO from OBTS data. 



                                   Table III.6
                     
                       Percent of Young Adults (Ages 18-24)
                       Incarcerated and the Total Number of
                        Young Adults Sentenced for Serious
                       Violent, Serious Property, and Drug
                             Offenses, 1989 and 1990


              Number     Percent                 Percent                 Percent
              senten  incarcerat      Number  incarcerat      Number  incarcerat
State            ced          ed   sentenced          ed   sentenced          ed
------------  ------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
California     6,747         93%      15,132         86%      18,438         90%
Minnesota      1,327          91       4,217          82       1,002          84
Missouri         566          67       2,007          53         868          57
Nebraska         560          78       1,587          61         668          62
New York      13,367          72      15,354          63      22,918          80
Pennsylvania   5,646          59       7,636          55       2,181          74
Vermont          136          67         719          53         121          47
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  Developed by GAO from OBTS data. 



                         Table III.7
           
           Total Number of Other Youth Incarcerated
            for Serious Violent Offenses, Serious
            Property Offenses, and Drug Offenses,
                        1989 and 1990

                               Total       Total
                           number of   number of       Total
                               other       other   number of
                               youth       youth       other
                          incarcerat  incarcerat       youth
                              ed for      ed for  incarcerat
                             serious     serious      ed for
                             violent    property        drug
State                       offenses    offenses    offenses
------------------------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Missouri                          51         173          63
New York                       2,215       1,850       2,817
============================================================
Total                          2,266       2,023       2,880
------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  Developed by GAO using OBTS data. 



                         Table III.8
           
            Total Number of Young Adults (Ages 18-
             24) Incarcerated for Serious Violent
           Offenses, Serious Property Offenses, and
                 Drug Offenses, 1989 and 1990

                               Total       Total
                           number of   number of       Total
                               young       young   number of
                              adults      adults       young
                          incarcerat  incarcerat      adults
                              ed for      ed for  incarcerat
                             serious     serious      ed for
                             violent    property        drug
State                       offenses    offenses    offenses
------------------------  ----------  ----------  ----------
California                     6,239      13,078      16,546
Minnesota                      1,212       3,462         841
Missouri                         379       1,072         497
Nebraska                         439         968         413
New York                       9,577       9,670      18,442
Pennsylvania                   3,321       4,193       1,616
Vermont                           91         380          57
============================================================
Total                         21,258      32,823      38,412
------------------------------------------------------------
Source:  Developed by GAO using OBTS data. 


SUMMARY OF TRANSFER LAWS
========================================================== Appendix IV

                    Maximum age
                             of
                       original
St                     juvenile
at                        court  Conditions under which a juvenile is or may be
e   Statute        jurisdiction  tried in criminal court
--  -------------  ------------  ------------------------------------------------
Al  Section 12-              17  Statutory Exclusions
ab  15-34,
am  1994 Al. Pub.                --any child who has been convicted as an adult.
a   Act 481                      --child 16 or older charged with a capital
                                 offense; a class A felony; drug trafficking; or
                                 a felony that has as an element, the use of a
                                 deadly weapon, the causing of death or serious
                                 bodily injury, or the use of a dangerous
                                 instrument against any law enforcement officer,
                                 corrections officer, parole or probation
                                 officer, prosecutor, judge, court officer, grand
                                 juror, juror, witness, or a teacher, principal
                                 or employee of a public school.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --any child 14 or older.

Al  Sections                 17  Statutory Exclusions
as  47.10.010,47.
ka  10.060                       --child 16 or older charged with an unclassified
                                 or class A felony against a person, or first
                                 degree arson.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --any child (there is a rebuttable presumption
                                 for waiver if child is charged with an
                                 unclassified or class A felony against a
                                 person).

                                 Sentencing

                                 --child tried as an adult under statutory
                                 exclusion but convicted of a lesser-included
                                 offense may have his or her case disposed of as
                                 though he or she had been adjudicated as a
                                 juvenile if the court finds that he or she is
                                 amenable to treatment.

Ar  R. Juv. P.               17  Judicial Waiver
iz  12, 14
on                               --any child (there is a rebuttable presumption
a                                for waiver if the child is 16 or older and
                                 charged with first or second degree murder;
                                 aggravated assault involving a deadly weapon and
                                 causing serious physical injury; sexual assault
                                 involving the use of a dangerous instrument or
                                 involving the intentional infliction of physical
                                 injury; or an offense constituting a class 1, 2,
                                 3, or 4 felony where the child has been
                                 adjudicated as a delinquent on four prior,
                                 separate occasions, at least one of which was
                                 for a serious offense).

Ar  Section 9-               17  Prosecutorial Discretion
ka  27-318
ns                               --child 16 or older charged with a felony.
as                               --child 14 or older charged with capital, first,
                                 or second degree murder; kidnapping; aggravated
                                 robbery; rape; first or second degree battery;
                                 possession of a handgun on school property;
                                 aggravated assault; terroristic act; unlawful
                                 discharge of a firearm from a vehicle; any
                                 felony committed while armed with a firearm;
                                 soliciting a minor to join a criminal street
                                 gang; criminal use of prohibited weapons; felony
                                 possession of a firearm; or felony attempt,
                                 solicitation, or conspiracy to commit capital,
                                 first, or second degree murder, kidnapping,
                                 aggravated robbery, rape, or first degree
                                 battery.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --above conditions when prosecutor did not
                                 charge child as adult.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --when prosecutor files in criminal (circuit)
                                 court, the court may remand to juvenile court.

Ca  W & I                    17  Judicial Waiver
li  sections 707,
fo  707.2                        --any child 16 or older (there is a presumption
rn                               for waiver if offense charged is arson, lewd
ia                               act, attempted murder, certain types of assault,
                                 any felony with certain weapons [12020a],
                                 offense against an aged or handicapped person,
                                 felony or drug offense with use of firearm,
                                 influencing testimony, preventing or dissuading
                                 victim or witness from testifying, or any
                                 offense for which a 14 year old may have his or
                                 her case waived).
                                 --child 14 or older charged with murder; robbery
                                 in which the juvenile used a firearm; rape,
                                 sodomy, or oral copulation by force, etc.;
                                 penetration by a foreign object; kidnapping;
                                 discharging a firearm from a vehicle or into an
                                 occupied or inhabited building; manufacturing or
                                 selling certain controlled substances; escape
                                 from juvenile custody where bodily harm is
                                 inflicted on employee; torture; aggravated
                                 mayhem; assault with a firearm; attempted
                                 murder; rape with a firearm; burglary with a
                                 firearm; exploding a destructive device with
                                 intent to commit murder; carjacking with a
                                 firearm (there is a presumption for waiver if
                                 offense charged is first or second degree
                                 murder).

                                 Sentencing

                                 --child may be sentenced by criminal court as an
                                 adult or committed to California Youth Authority
                                 (CYA) (child under 16 must first go to CYA for
                                 amenability determination, but court can still
                                 sentence as an adult notwithstanding CYA's
                                 amenability determination).

Co  Sections 19-             17  Prosecutorial Discretion (the criminal court
lo  2-805, 806                   judge can no longer send cases directly filed
ra                               back to juvenile court)
do
                                 --child 14 or older charged with a class 1 or 2
                                 felony; a crime of violence; a felony weapons
                                 offense (except possession of a handgun); or the
                                 use, possession, or threatened use of a deadly
                                 weapon during a felony against a person.
                                 --child 16 or older charged with a class 3
                                 felony (except a certain classification of
                                 statutory rape) and who has been adjudicated
                                 within the past 2 years for a felony.
                                 --child 14 or older charged with a felony and
                                 who has been convicted as an adult in a prior
                                 case.
                                 --child 14 or older charged with a felony and
                                 determined to be a habitual juvenile offender
                                 (juvenile who has two prior adjudications for
                                 acts that constitute felonies).

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 14 or older charged with a felony (the
                                 prosecutor must then file an information\a
                                 within 5 days or the waiver is invalid, and the
                                 case is remanded to the juvenile court
                                 permanently).

                                 Sentencing

                                 --when a child has been tried as an adult by
                                 prosecutorial direct filing, the judge may
                                 sentence the child as an adult; as a youthful
                                 offender (with some restrictions); or as a
                                 juvenile in very limited circumstances.
                                 --if the child's case was judicially waived, the
                                 child may receive a sentence as a juvenile (or
                                 the criminal court may remand the case to
                                 juvenile court for disposition), unless the
                                 child was convicted of a class 1 felony or a
                                 crime of violence; has been previously
                                 adjudicated as a mandatory sentence offender, a
                                 violent juvenile offender, or an aggravated
                                 juvenile offender; or has been convicted as an
                                 adult or youthful offender.

Co  Sections 46b-            15  Statutory Exclusions (mandatory transfer
nn  126,                         provisions)
ec  46b-127
ti                               --child 14 or older charged with murder.
cu                               --child 14 or older charged with a class A
t                                felony (other than those listed below), who has
                                 a previous adjudication, at any age, for a class
                                 A felony.
                                 --child 14 or older charged with a class B
                                 felony (other than those listed below) who has
                                 been adjudicated as a delinquent twice before on
                                 class A or B felonies.
                                 --child 14 or older charged with any of the
                                 following crimes committed with a firearm: first
                                 or second degree manslaughter; first or second
                                 degree assault; third degree sexual assault;
                                 first or second degree kidnapping; second or
                                 third degree burglary; second degree robbery
                                 while displaying or threatening to use a deadly
                                 weapon; first degree sexual assault with a
                                 deadly weapon; first degree burglary; or first
                                 degree robbery.
                                 --child 14 or older charged with any felony
                                 classified as a serious juvenile offense under
                                 46b-120 while carrying a revolver or pistol
                                 without a permit.

                                 Judicial Waiver (where mandatory transfer
                                 provisions--section 46b-127--do not apply)

                                 --child 14 or older charged with a class A
                                 felony.
                                 --child 14 or older charged with a class B or C
                                 felony who previously has been adjudicated as a
                                 "serious juvenile offender" (found to have
                                 committed one or more offenses listed in section
                                 46b-120).

De  10 sections              17  Statutory Exclusions
la  921, 1010,
wa  1011                         --any child charged with murder in the first or
re                               second degree, unlawful sexual intercourse in
                                 the first degree, or kidnapping in the first
                                 degree.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --any child 16 or older.
                                 --any child 14 or older charged with a felony.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --Attorney General may transfer any case from
                                 criminal court to juvenile court (whether child
                                 was transferred by juvenile court or criminal
                                 court had original jurisdiction).
                                 --where criminal court has original jurisdiction
                                 over child (i.e., statutorily excluded offenses)
                                 criminal court may transfer to juvenile court.

Di  Sections 16-             17  Statutory Exclusions
st  2301,
ri  16-2307                      --any child previously convicted as an adult.
ct                               --any child awaiting trial in criminal court
of                               when an indictment or an information is filed
Co                               against him for a subsequent offense.
lu
mb                               Prosecutorial Discretion
ia
                                 --child 16 or older charged with murder,
                                 forcible rape, first degree burglary, armed
                                 robbery, or assault with intent to commit any of
                                 those crimes.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 15 or older charged with a felony.
                                 (There is a rebuttable presumption for waiver if
                                 child is 15 or older and charged with murder,
                                 forcible rape, first degree burglary, robbery
                                 while armed, or assault with intent to commit
                                 any of the above; any crime with a firearm; or
                                 any violent felony if the child has three or
                                 more prior delinquency adjudications.)
                                 --child 16 or older under commitment as a
                                 delinquent child.
                                 --any child charged with illegal possession or
                                 control of a firearm within 500 feet of public
                                 school property, or school-sponsored event.

Fl  Sections                 17  Statutory Exclusions
or  39.022,
id  39.047,                      --any child who has been convicted and sentenced
a   39.052,                      as an adult.
    39.0587                      --child 16 or older charged with a violent crime
                                 against a person and who previously has been
                                 adjudicated for murder, sexual battery,
                                 carjacking, armed or strong-armed robbery, home-
                                 invasion robbery, aggravated battery, or
                                 aggravated assault (prosecutor must file
                                 information).
                                 --any child who has previously been adjudicated
                                 on three separate occasions for felonies that
                                 resulted in residential placements.

                                 Prosecutorial Discretion

                                 --child 14 or older charged with arson; sexual
                                 battery; robbery; kidnapping; aggravated child
                                 abuse; aggravated assault; aggravated stalking;
                                 murder; manslaughter; unlawful throwing,
                                 placing, or discharging a destructive device or
                                 bomb; armed burglary; aggravated battery; lewd
                                 or lascivious assault or act in the presence of
                                 a child; or use or possession of a weapon during
                                 a felony.
                                 --any child 16 or older charged with a felony,
                                 or charged with a misdemeanor where he or she
                                 has two prior delinquency adjudications of which
                                 at least one was a felony.
                                 --any child charged with a crime that is
                                 punishable by death or by life imprisonment.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 14 or older. (In the case of a child 14
                                 or older charged with a fourth felony where one
                                 of prior three felonies involved using firearm
                                 or violence against a person: the prosecutor
                                 must request a waiver or explain in writing why
                                 he or she is not requesting a waiver; then the
                                 court must waive or explain in writing why it is
                                 not granting a waiver.)

                                 Sentencing

                                 --criminal court may sentence child as an adult,
                                 select from juvenile dispositions, or invoke
                                 Florida Youthful Offender statute (except that a
                                 child found to have committed an offense
                                 punishable by death or life imprisonment must be
                                 sentenced as an adult).

Ge  Sections 15-             16  Statutory Exclusions
or  11-5,
gi  15-11-39,                    --child 13 or older charged with murder,
a   15-11-39.1                   voluntary manslaughter, rape, aggravated sodomy,
                                 aggravated child molestation, aggravated sexual
                                 battery, or armed robbery committed with a
                                 firearm (superior court has exclusive original
                                 jurisdiction, but after an investigation, the
                                 prosecutor may refuse to indict or the judge may
                                 send child to juvenile court "for extraordinary
                                 cause").
                                 --child 14 or older who is confined to a youth
                                 development center and is charged with
                                 aggravated assault or aggravated battery
                                 (mandatory transfer).
                                 --child 15 or older charged with burglary after
                                 having been adjudicated as a delinquent on
                                 burglary charges at least three times previously
                                 (mandatory transfer).

                                 Prosecutorial Discretion (concurrent
                                 jurisdiction)

                                 --child charged with a crime punishable by death
                                 or by life imprisonment (other than those
                                 offenses that are in the exclusive jurisdiction
                                 of the Superior Court).

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 15 or older.
                                 --child 13 or older charged with a felony
                                 punishable by life imprisonment or death (other
                                 than those offenses that are in the exclusive
                                 jurisdiction of the Superior Court).

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --child charged with statutorily excluded
                                 offense may be transferred to juvenile court
                                 "for extraordinary cause" unless the offense is
                                 punishable by death or life imprisonment.

                                 Sentencing

                                 --child charged with statutorily excluded
                                 offense but convicted of a lesser-included
                                 offense may be transferred to juvenile court for
                                 sentencing.

Ha  Section 571-             17  Statutory Exclusions
wa  22
ii                               --child who has been transferred to adult
                                 court.
                                 --child 16 or older who is charged with murder
                                 or attempted murder in the first or second
                                 degree, or a class A felony (felony punishable
                                 by 20 years imprisonment, includes sexual
                                 assault, robbery, kidnapping, some drug
                                 offenses) and who has been adjudicated for two
                                 other felonies in the prior 2 years or
                                 previously has been adjudicated as a delinquent
                                 for murder or attempted murder in the first or
                                 second degree or for another violent class A
                                 felony.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 16 or older charged with a felony.

                                 Sentencing

                                 --any child under 22 may be sentenced as a young
                                 adult (they receive shorter sentences).

Id  Sections 16-             17  Statutory Exclusions
ah  1806, 16-
o   1806A                        --child 14 or older charged with murder or
                                 attempted murder, robbery, forcible rape,
                                 forcible sexual penetration with a foreign
                                 object, infamous crimes against nature committed
                                 by force or violence, mayhem, assault and
                                 battery with the intent to commit a previously
                                 listed crime, or drug offenses within 1,000 feet
                                 of a school or school activity.
                                 --any child who has been convicted as an adult.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 14 or older.

Il  705 ILCS 405/            16  Statutory Exclusions
li  5-4
no                               --child 15 or older charged with first degree
is                               murder; aggravated criminal sexual assault;
                                 armed robbery with a firearm; a drug offense on
                                 or within 1,000 feet of school or public housing
                                 grounds, or on a school conveyance; or unlawful
                                 use of a weapon on school grounds.
                                 --any child charged with escape or bail jumping
                                 while the child is being tried in criminal
                                 court.
                                 --child 15 or older charged with a felony and
                                 who has previously been adjudicated as a
                                 delinquent for a felony, provided that either
                                 the current or prior act was a forcible felony,
                                 and the current act stemmed from gang activity
                                 (mandatory transfer).

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 13 or older. (There is a rebuttable
                                 presumption for waiver for child 15 or older
                                 charged with a class X felony other than armed
                                 violence, aggravated discharge of a firearm, or
                                 certain "armed violence with a firearm"
                                 offenses).

                                 Sentencing

                                 --If child being tried in criminal court for a
                                 statutorily excluded offense is found guilty of
                                 a lesser offense, the court may sentence the
                                 child as a juvenile or adult.

In  Sections 31-             17  Statutory Exclusions
di  6-2-1,
an  31-6-2-4                     --child 16 or older charged with murder;
a                                kidnapping; rape; or robbery, while armed with a
                                 deadly weapon or which results in bodily injury
                                 or serious bodily injury; carjacking; criminal
                                 gang activity; criminal gang intimidation;
                                 carrying handgun without a license; being a
                                 child in possession of a handgun or transferring
                                 a handgun to another child; or dealing in a
                                 sawed-off shotgun.
                                 --any child 16 or older whose case is waived to
                                 adult court (by judicial waiver or prosecutorial
                                 discretion) in the year preceding the current
                                 offense and who is convicted of the previous
                                 offense or a lesser included one.
                                 --child who has been convicted as an adult and
                                 is currently charged with a felony (mandatory
                                 transfer).

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 10 or older charged with murder.
                                 --child 14 or older charged with a heinous or
                                 aggravated act, or a pattern of criminal acts.
                                 --child 16 or older charged with certain felony
                                 drug charges, a class A or B felony that is not
                                 a statutory exclusion, involuntary manslaughter
                                 as a class C felony, or reckless homicide as a
                                 class C felony.

Io  Sections                 17  Statutory Exclusions
wa  232.8,
    232.45,                      --child 16 or older charged with a felony and
    232.45A                      who has been convicted as an adult for a
                                 felony.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 14 or older.

                                 Sentencing

                                 --a child convicted as an adult on a
                                 nonmarijuana related drug offense is not subject
                                 to normal minimum sentencing laws, but the child
                                 would have to serve at least 30 days.

Ka  Sections 21-             17  Statutory Exclusions
ns  3611, 38-
as  1602,                        --child 16 or older charged with a felony who
    38-1636                      has been previously adjudicated as a delinquent
                                 for a felony.
                                 --any child previously convicted as an adult, if
                                 he or she had come to criminal court through
                                 statutory exclusion provision, as explained
                                 above.
                                 --child 16 or older who has been adjudicated as
                                 a delinquent and confined to a juvenile facility
                                 and who is charged with committing a felony
                                 while confined in the facility or while running
                                 away or escaping from the facility; or charged
                                 with a second or subsequent escape.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 16 or older.
                                 --child 14 or older who is charged with a level
                                 1, 2, or 3 nondrug felony or a level 1 or 2 drug
                                 felony (classifications as of 7/1/93) or a class
                                 A or B felony (pre-7/1/93 classifications) (if
                                 the child is convicted of a lesser-included
                                 offense then he or she is treated as a
                                 juvenile).

Ke  Sections                 17  Statutory Exclusions
nt  635.020,
uc  640.010                      --child 14 or older charged with a felony in
ky                               which a firearm was used.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 14 or older charged with a capital
                                 offense or a class A (punishable by 20 years to
                                 life) or B (punishable by 10-20 years) felony.
                                 --child 16 or older charged with a class C or D
                                 felony (punishable by 5-10 and 1-5 years,
                                 respectively) and who has twice before been
                                 adjudicated on felony charges.
                                 --any child charged with a felony and who has
                                 previously been convicted as an adult.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --any child transferred to adult court and
                                 indicted for an offense other than those listed
                                 above will be transferred back to juvenile
                                 court.

                                 Sentencing

                                 --any child sentenced before becoming 18 and not
                                 released before becoming 18 must be returned to
                                 the sentencing court for a redetermination of
                                 sentence, which may result in probation or
                                 conditional discharge, 6 more months of
                                 treatment program, or incarceration in adult
                                 prison.

Lo  Ch.C. Art.               16  Statutory Exclusions
ui  305, Art. 857
si                               --child 15 or older charged with first or second
an                               degree murder, aggravated rape, or aggravated
a                                kidnapping.

                                 Prosecutorial Discretion

                                 --child 15 or older charged with attempted first
                                 or second degree murder; manslaughter; armed
                                 robbery; forcible rape; simple rape; second
                                 degree kidnapping; a second or subsequent
                                 aggravated battery, aggravated burglary,
                                 burglary of an inhabited dwelling, or felony
                                 grade violation of statute involving the
                                 manufacture, distribution, or possession with
                                 intent to distribute controlled dangerous
                                 substances.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 14 or older charged with first or second
                                 degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated
                                 rape, aggravated battery committed by
                                 discharging a firearm, armed robbery with a
                                 firearm, or aggravated oral sexual battery (a 14
                                 year old whose case is waived to criminal court
                                 and who is convicted cannot be confined beyond
                                 his or her 31st birthday.)

Ma  15 section               17  Statutory Exclusions
in  3101
e                                --child convicted as an adult.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child charged with murder or a class A, B, or
                                 C crime.

Ma  Cts.                     17  Statutory Exclusions
ry  sections 3-
la  804,                         --child 14 or older charged with a crime
nd  3-817                        punishable by death or by life imprisonment.
                                 --child 16 or older charged with abduction;
                                 kidnapping; second degree murder; manslaughter
                                 (except involuntary); mayhem or maiming; robbery
                                 with a dangerous or deadly weapon; a second or
                                 third degree sexual offense; certain firearms
                                 offenses; using, wearing, carrying, or
                                 transporting a firearm during a drug trafficking
                                 offense; carjacking or armed carjacking; assault
                                 with intent to murder, rape, rob, or commit a
                                 first or second degree sexual offense.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 15 or older.
                                 --any child charged with a crime punishable by
                                 death or by life imprisonment.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --criminal court may transfer juveniles charged
                                 with statutorily excluded offenses to juvenile
                                 court (the court cannot transfer child back to
                                 juvenile court if the child has been previously
                                 reverse waived to juvenile court and was
                                 adjudicated as a delinquent, the child has been
                                 convicted in another unrelated case of a
                                 statutorily excluded offense, or the child is 16
                                 or older and charged with 1st degree murder).
                                 --when criminal court does a reverse waiver of
                                 an excluded juvenile, juvenile court cannot
                                 judicially waive the case back to criminal
                                 court.

Ma  119 section              16  Judicial Waiver
ss  61
ac                               --child 14 or older when the crime could result
hu                               in imprisonment in the state prison and (1) the
se                               child has been previously committed to the
tt                               department of youth services or (2) when the act
s                                involves the infliction or threat of serious
                                 bodily harm (prosecutor may appeal judge's
                                 decision denying waiver); court must hold
                                 transfer hearing if child charged with murder in
                                 the first or second degree, manslaughter,
                                 assault with intent to rob while armed, rape,
                                 rape of child under 16, kidnapping, or burglary
                                 (being armed or making an assault).

                                 Sentencing

                                 --child tried as an adult for any offense except
                                 murder and found guilty before turning 18 may be
                                 adjudicated as a delinquent and given a juvenile
                                 disposition.

Mi  Sections                 16  Prosecutorial Discretion
ch  600.606,
ig  712A.4,                      --child 15 or older charged with murder in the
an  712A.2, 769.1                first or second degree; attempted murder;
                                 assault with the intent to murder; assault with
                                 intent to rob while armed; criminal sexual
                                 conduct in the first degree; armed robbery;
                                 carjacking; manufacture, distribution, or
                                 possession of controlled substances (650 grams
                                 or more of narcotics or cocaine).

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 15 or older charged with a felony.

                                 Sentencing

                                 --child tried as an adult by prosecutorial
                                 discretion may be sentenced as an adult or given
                                 a juvenile disposition.

Mi  Sections                 17  Statutory Exclusions
nn  260.015,
es  260.125                      --any child charged with a felony and who has
ot                               been previously certified for trial as an adult
a                                and convicted of the offense for which he or she
                                 was certified or of a lesser-included felony
                                 offense.
                                 --child 16 or older charged with first degree
                                 murder (but not attempted first degree murder).

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 14 or older charged with a felony (there
                                 is a rebuttable presumption for waiver if the
                                 child is 16 or older and charged with felony
                                 involving the use of a firearm or an offense
                                 that would result in a prison sentence under the
                                 sentencing guidelines).
                                 --if the presumption applies and the court
                                 retains jurisdiction, it must designate the
                                 proceeding an extended jurisdiction juvenile
                                 prosecution (if the presumption does not apply
                                 the court may still designate as an extended
                                 jurisdiction prosecution).

Mi  Sections 43-             17  Statutory Exclusions
ss  21-105, 43-
is  21-151,                      --child 13 or older charged with a crime
si  43-21-157,                   punishable by life imprisonment or the death
pp  43-23-29,                    penalty or charged with felony use of a deadly
i   43-23-31                     weapon.
                                 --child convicted as an adult.
                                 --child 17 charged with a felony.

                                 Judicial Waiver (youth court, which was created
                                 as a division of family or county court in all
                                 jurisdictions)

                                 --child 13 or older.

                                 Judicial Waiver (family court) (Harrison county
                                 is the only
                                 jurisdiction with a family court)

                                 --child 13 or older charged with a felony.
                                 --child 13 or older charged with a misdemeanor
                                 and who was first brought before municipal or
                                 justice of the peace court (family court retains
                                 jurisdiction to set aside the sentence).

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --in case of statutory exclusions, the circuit
                                 court may transfer to youth court unless the
                                 child was previously convicted as an adult.
                                 --in case of judicial waiver, circuit court may
                                 upon motion of the child, review the transfer
                                 proceedings and remand the case to youth court
                                 if there is no substantial evidence supporting
                                 the transfer.
                                 --the Family Court Act makes no provision for
                                 reverse waiver.

Mi  Section                  16  Statutory Exclusions
ss  211.071
ou                               --child previously convicted as an adult.
ri
                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 14 or older charged with a felony.

Mo  Section 41-              17  Statutory Exclusions
nt  5-206
an                               --child 16 or older charged with deliberate or
a                                mitigated deliberate homicide or the attempt to
                                 commit either (mandatory transfer).

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 12 or older charged with sexual
                                 intercourse without consent, mitigated
                                 deliberate homicide, deliberate homicide, or
                                 attempted deliberate or mitigated deliberate
                                 homicide.
                                 --child 16 or older charged with negligent
                                 homicide, arson, aggravated or felony assault,
                                 robbery, burglary or aggravated burglary,
                                 aggravated kidnapping, possession of explosives,
                                 criminal sale of dangerous drugs, or attempting
                                 to commit any of those acts.

Ne  Sections 43-             17  Prosecutorial Discretion
br  247,
as  43-261                       --child 16 or older charged with misdemeanor.
ka                               --any child charged with a felony.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --any child charged in criminal court may move
                                 the court to waive jurisdiction to juvenile
                                 court.

Ne  Sections                 17  Statutory Exclusions
va  62.040,
da  62.060,                      --child charged with murder or attempted
    62.080                       murder.
                                 --child who has been convicted as an adult.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 16 or older charged with a felony.

                                 Extended Jurisdiction

                                 --a person 18-20 who is charged with a gross
                                 misdemeanor or felony other than murder or
                                 attempted murder may request that the district
                                 court waive jurisdiction, so that the person can
                                 be tried as a juvenile.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --child who is statutorily excluded because he
                                 or she has previously been convicted as an adult
                                 may request waiver to juvenile court.

Ne  Sections 169-            17  Statutory Exclusions
w   B:24, 169-
Ha  B:27, 628:1                  --any child who has been convicted as an adult.
mp
sh                               Judicial Waiver
ir
e                                --child 15 or older charged with a felony.
                                 --child 13 or older charged with first or second
                                 degree murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, or
                                 aggravated sexual assault.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --in the case of a child charged with a felony
                                 and who is not within the jurisdiction of the
                                 state, the juvenile court may, upon motion of
                                 the prosecutor, authorize use of regular
                                 criminal proceedings against the child; the
                                 criminal court then determines whether to retain
                                 jurisdiction or remand the case to juvenile
                                 court.

Ne  Section                  17  Judicial Waiver
w   2A:4A-26
Je                               --child 14 or older charged with criminal
rs                               homicide (other than death by auto) or strict-
ey                               liability for drug-induced death; first degree
                                 robbery; aggravated sexual assault; sexual
                                 assault; second degree aggravated assault,
                                 kidnapping, aggravated arson or conspiracy to
                                 commit any of these crimes; any other crime
                                 committed after the juvenile was adjudicated as
                                 a delinquent or convicted for one of the above
                                 crimes or after the child had been sentenced as
                                 an adult to confinement; any other violent
                                 offense against a person; the unlawful
                                 possession of a firearm, destructive device, or
                                 other prohibited weapon, arson, or conspiracy to
                                 commit any of these crimes; death by auto if the
                                 child was under the influence of drugs or
                                 alcohol; various offenses related to being part
                                 of an organized drug ring or conspiracy; auto
                                 theft; racketeering; or distributing for
                                 pecuniary gain, any controlled substance within
                                 1,000 feet of a public school.

Ne  Sections 31-             17  Statutory Exclusions
w   18-13 et
Me  seq., 32A-1-                 --child 16 or older charged with first degree
xi  8, 32A-2-3                   murder (called a "serious youthful offender").
co
                                 Juvenile Court Disposition (subject to adult or
                                 juvenile sanctions in juvenile court, called
                                 "youthful offenders")

                                 --child 15 or older found to have committed
                                 second degree murder; assault with intent to
                                 commit a violent felony; kidnapping; aggravated
                                 battery; shooting at a dwelling, occupied
                                 building, or at or from a car, resulting in
                                 great bodily harm to another; dangerous use of
                                 explosives; criminal sexual penetration;
                                 robbery; aggravated burglary or aggravated
                                 arson; or any felony if he or she has been
                                 adjudicated on felonies twice before in the
                                 prior 2 years.
                                 --15 year old found to have committed first
                                 degree murder.

Ne  Penal Law                15  Statutory Exclusions (all juveniles tried in
w   30.00, 70.05                 criminal court are considered "juvenile
Yo  Criminal                     offenders")
rk  Procedure Law
    1.20(42),                    --child 13 or older charged with murder in the
    180.75,                      second degree.
    190.71,                      --child 14 or older charged with kidnapping or
    210.43                       attempted kidnapping in the first degree; arson
                                 in the first or second degree; assault in the
                                 first degree; manslaughter in the first degree;
                                 rape in the first degree; sodomy in the first
                                 degree; aggravated sexual abuse; first degree
                                 burglary; some second degree burglary; first
                                 degree robbery; some second degree robbery;
                                 attempted second degree murder.

                                 Reverse Waiver\b

                                 --the criminal court or superior court may send
                                 the child to juvenile court.

                                 Sentencing

                                 --all juveniles in criminal court are sentenced
                                 as juvenile offenders (an adult-like sentence
                                 but with lower required minimum period of
                                 imprisonment).

No  Section 7A-              15  Statutory Exclusions
rt  608
h                                --child 13 or older charged with a class A
Ca                               felony (an offense punishable by death or life
ro                               imprisonment) (mandatory transfer).
li
na                               Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 13 or older charged with a lesser
                                 felony.

No  Section 27-              17  Judicial Waiver
rt  20-34
h                                --child 14 or older charged with committing an
Da                               act that involves the infliction or threat of
ko                               serious bodily harm.
ta                               --child 16 or older.

Oh  Sections                 17  Statutory Exclusions
io  2151.011,
    2151.26                      --child charged with murder; aggravated murder;
                                 or a felony or aggravated felony of the first or
                                 second degree, if the child has been previously
                                 transferred to and convicted in criminal court.
                                 --child charged with murder or aggravated murder
                                 and who previously has been adjudicated as a
                                 delinquent for murder or aggravated murder
                                 (mandatory transfer).

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 15 or older charged with a felony.

Ok  10 sections              17  Statutory Exclusions
la  1101,
ho  1104.02,                     --child 16 or older charged with murder;
ma  1112                         kidnapping for the purposes of extortion;
                                 robbery with a dangerous weapon; rape in the
                                 first degree; rape by instrument; use of a
                                 firearm or other offensive weapon, while
                                 committing a felony; arson in the first degree;
                                 burglary with explosives, first or second degree
                                 burglary after three or more adjudications for
                                 first or second degree burglary; shooting with
                                 intent to kill; discharging a firearm, crossbow,
                                 or other weapon from a vehicle; intimidating a
                                 witness; manufacturing, distributing,
                                 dispensing, or possessing with intent to
                                 manufacture, distribute, or dispense controlled
                                 dangerous substances; assault and battery with a
                                 deadly weapon; manslaughter in the first degree;
                                 or sodomy.
                                 --any child convicted as an adult of the offense
                                 originally charged.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --any child charged with a felony.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --criminal court may waive its jurisdiction over
                                 statutorily excluded offenses (it may not waive
                                 jurisdiction over a child previously convicted
                                 as an adult).

Or  Sections                 17  Statutory Exclusions
eg  419C.340,
on  419C.349,                    --child 15 or older charged with murder, first
    419C.352,                    or second degree manslaughter, first or second
    419C.361,                    degree assault, first or second degree
    419C.364                     kidnapping, first or second degree rape, first
                                 or second degree sodomy, unlawful sexual
                                 penetration, first degree sexual abuse, first or
                                 second degree robbery.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 15 or older charged with attempt to
                                 commit murder or attempt to commit an aggravated
                                 form of murder.
                                 --child 16 or older charged with a class A or B
                                 felony (except for those offenses that are
                                 statutorily excluded), escape in the second
                                 degree, assault in the third degree, coercion,
                                 arson in the second degree, or robbery in the
                                 third degree.

                                 Sentencing

                                 --child found guilty of lesser "nonwaivable"
                                 offense must be returned to juvenile court for
                                 disposition.

Pe  42 PA. C.S.A.            17  Statutory Exclusions
nn  sections
sy  6302, 6322,                  --any child charged with murder.
lv  6355                         --any child who has been found guilty in a
an                               criminal proceeding.
ia
                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 14 or older charged with a felony.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --child charged with murder in criminal court
                                 may be transferred to juvenile court.

                                 Sentencing

                                 --child charged with murder in criminal
                                 proceeding but convicted of crime less than
                                 murder may be transferred to juvenile court for
                                 sentencing.
                                 --child transferred to criminal court under
                                 judicial waiver and convicted of a misdemeanor
                                 may be transferred back to juvenile court for
                                 sentencing.

Rh  Sections 14-             17  Statutory Exclusions
od  1-3, 14-1-7,
e   14-1-7.1,                    --any child who has been convicted as an adult.
Is  14-1-7.2,                    --child 17 or older charged with murder, first
la  14-1-7.3,                    degree sexual assault, or assault with intent to
nd  14-1-7.4                     commit murder (mandatory transfer).

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --any child charged with a crime punishable by
                                 life imprisonment.
                                 --child 16 or older charged with a felony.

                                 Juvenile Court Disposition

                                 --any child charged with a felony may be
                                 "certified" in juvenile court (a child that is
                                 certified may be sentenced to the state training
                                 school or to a term of years to be served at the
                                 training school until the child turns 21, with
                                 the excess time being served in prison, unless
                                 the court finds before then that the child has
                                 been rehabilitated).
                                 --child 16 or older charged with a felony drug
                                 offense and has been previously adjudicated as a
                                 delinquent for a felony drug offense after the
                                 age of 16 must be waived or certified.
                                 --child 16 or older charged with a felony and
                                 who has been found as a delinquent for having
                                 committed two offenses after the age of 16 for
                                 which an adult could be indicted must be
                                 certified.

So  Sections 20-             16  Statutory Exclusions
ut  7-390, 20-7-
h   430                          --child 16 charged with murder; a Class A, B, C,
Ca                               or D felony; a felony that has a maximum term of
ro                               imprisonment of 15 years or more; criminal
li                               sexual conduct; or distribution of drugs within
na                               proximity of a school.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child younger than 16 charged with murder or
                                 criminal sexual conduct.
                                 --child 14 or 15 charged with a Class A, B, C,
                                 or D felony; a felony that provides for a
                                 maximum term of imprisonment of 15 years or
                                 more; or distribution of drugs within proximity
                                 of a school.
                                 --child 14 or older charged with assault and
                                 battery of a high and aggravated nature;
                                 carrying weapons on school property; or unlawful
                                 carrying of a pistol.
                                 --child 16 charged with a Class E or F felony;
                                 or a Class A, B, or C misdemeanor.

                                 Reserve Waiver

                                 --child statutorily excluded may be remanded to
                                 the family court for disposition of the charge
                                 at the discretion of the prosecutor.

So  Sections 26-             17  Judicial Waiver
ut  11-4,
h   26-11-10                     --child age 10 or older charged with a felony.
Da                               (There is a rebuttable presumption for waiver
ko                               for a child 16 or older charged with a class A,
ta                               B, 1, or 2 felony.)

                                 Sentencing

                                 --When a child under 18 is found guilty of any
                                 crime except murder, the circuit court may,
                                 instead of entering judgment, order that the
                                 child be sent to the state training school.

Te  Sections 37-             17  Statutory Exclusions
nn  1-134,
es  37-1-159                     --any child who has been convicted as an adult.
se
e                                Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 16 or older.
                                 --any child charged with first or second degree
                                 murder, rape, aggravated rape, aggravated
                                 robbery, especially-aggravated robbery,
                                 kidnapping, aggravated kidnapping, or
                                 especially-aggravated kidnapping.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --when a nonlawyer judge presides over transfer
                                 hearing, the criminal court upon motion of
                                 juvenile must hold a de novo transfer hearing
                                 and either remand the case to juvenile court or
                                 accept jurisdiction.

Te  Family Code              16  Judicial Waiver
xa  sections
s   51.03, 51.08,                --child age 15 or older charged with a felony.
    54.02
                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --criminal court shall conduct examining trial
                                 if there is good cause to do so and may remand
                                 to juvenile court (if there is no good cause for
                                 an examining trial, the court refers the matter
                                 to a grand jury).
                                 --the juvenile court may reclaim jurisdiction if
                                 a grand jury refuses to indict the juvenile.

Ut  Sections 78-             17  Statutory Exclusions
ah  3a-17(1), 78-
    3a-25                        --child 16 or older charged with aggravated
                                 murder.
                                 --any child who has been previously convicted as
                                 an adult.

                                 Prosecutorial Discretion

                                 --child 16 or older charged with murder, a
                                 capital crime, first degree felony, criminal
                                 homicide or attempted criminal homicide
                                 involving the use of a dangerous weapon; or any
                                 felony involving the use of a dangerous weapon
                                 where the juvenile has a prior adjudication for
                                 a felony offense involving a dangerous weapon.

                                 Judicial Waiver (called certification)

                                 --child 14 or older charged with a felony.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --child whose case has been judicially waived
                                 may request hearing in juvenile court to recall
                                 jurisdiction. (If juvenile court recalls
                                 jurisdiction, juvenile is returned to juvenile
                                 court for further proceedings, which may include
                                 certification to adult court.)

                                 Sentencing

                                 --a criminal court may sentence a child as an
                                 adult or as a juvenile in a case that has been
                                 waived.

Ve  33 sections     17 ("child"  Statutory Exclusions
rm  5502,            is defined
on  5505, 5506      as under 16  --child 14 or older charged with arson, causing
t                           for  death; assault and robbery with a dangerous
                    delinquency  weapon; assault and robbery, causing bodily
                      purposes,  injury; aggravated assault; murder;
                     but 16 and  manslaughter; kidnapping; maiming; sexual
                   17 year olds  assault; or aggravated sexual assault.
                   may still be
                     treated as  Prosecutorial Discretion
                     juveniles)
                                 --child 16 or 17 charged with a nonexcluded
                                 crime.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --any child age 10 to 13 charged with arson,
                                 causing death; assault and robbery with a
                                 dangerous weapon; assault and robbery, causing
                                 bodily injury; aggravated assault; murder;
                                 manslaughter; kidnapping; maiming; sexual
                                 assault; or aggravated sexual assault.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --criminal court may transfer juvenile back to
                                 juvenile court in cases of statutory exclusions
                                 and prosecutorial discretion.

                                 Sentencing

                                 --child 15 or younger tried as an adult and
                                 found guilty of a lesser offense (not one listed
                                 above) shall be transferred to juvenile court
                                 for disposition (this will be considered an
                                 adjudication for delinquency not a criminal
                                 conviction).

Vi  Sections                 17  Statutory Exclusions
rg  16.1-269.1,
in  16.1-269.3,                  --any child previously convicted as an adult.
ia  16.1-269.4,
    16.1-269.6,                  Judicial Waiver
    16.1-271
                                 --child 14 or older charged with a felony (if
                                 the child is 14 or older and charged with class
                                 1 or 2 felony or 16 or older and charged with
                                 class 3 felony for murder, mob related felony,
                                 kidnapping or assault or any unclassified felony
                                 that carries a maximum penalty of 40 years, the
                                 court may transfer without finding that the
                                 juvenile is not a proper person to remain in
                                 juvenile court). (When the case of a child 14 or
                                 older charged with an offense punishable by
                                 death or 20 years or more imprisonment is not
                                 waived, the prosecutor may appeal to circuit
                                 court. The circuit court then holds a hearing to
                                 determine whether juvenile court substantially
                                 complied with the judicial waiver statute and
                                 either remands the case to juvenile court or
                                 accepts jurisdiction.)

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --child whose case has been judicially waived
                                 may appeal the waiver to circuit court. The
                                 circuit court then holds a hearing as above and
                                 either remands the case to juvenile court or
                                 accepts jurisdiction.

                                 Sentencing

                                 --child convicted as an adult for the first time
                                 may be sentenced as an adult or may be subject
                                 to juvenile disposition.

Wa  Sections                 17  Statutory Exclusions
sh  13.04.030,
in  13.40.020,                   --child 16 or older charged with a serious
gt  13.40.110                    violent offense or charged with a violent
on                               offense if the child has a criminal history
                                 consisting of (i) 1 or more prior serious
                                 violent offenses; (ii) 2 or more prior violent
                                 offenses; or (iii) 3 or more of any combination
                                 of any class A or B felony, vehicular assault,
                                 or manslaughter in the second degree, provided
                                 that each offense was committed after the child
                                 reached 13 and was prosecuted separately;
                                 (criminal history includes all criminal
                                 complaints where the allegations were found
                                 correct by a court or where criminal complaint
                                 was diverted on agreement of respondent after
                                 advisement that the complaint would be part of
                                 criminal history).
                                 --child who has been tried as an adult.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --any child (a transfer hearing must be held
                                 where juvenile is 15 or older charged with a
                                 class A felony or an attempt, solicitation, or
                                 conspiracy to commit a class A felony; or 17 and
                                 charged with second degree assault, first degree
                                 extortion, indecent liberties, second degree
                                 child molestation, second degree kidnapping, or
                                 second degree robbery).

We  Sections 49-             17  Judicial Waiver
st  5-10, 49-5-
Vi  13                           --any child charged with treason, murder,
rg                               robbery using firearms or other deadly weapons,
in                               kidnapping, first degree arson, or sexual
ia                               assault in the first degree; or a violent felony
                                 if the child has been previously adjudicated as
                                 a delinquent for a violent felony, or any felony
                                 if the child has been twice previously
                                 adjudicated as a delinquent for a felony.
                                 --any child 16 or older charged with a violent
                                 felony or any felony if the child has a previous
                                 adjudication for a felony.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --any child whose case is waived has the right
                                 to directly appeal an order of transfer to the
                                 Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

                                 Sentencing

                                 --any child convicted as an adult may be
                                 sentenced as an adult or given a juvenile
                                 disposition.

Wi  Sections                 17  Statutory Exclusions
sc  48.18,
on  48.183,                      --any child charged with assault or battery
si  970.032                      against an employee, officer, visitor, or inmate
n                                while confined in a secured correctional
                                 facility.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --any child 16 or older (there is a presumption
                                 for waiver if the child has previously been
                                 waived).
                                 --any child 14 or older charged with attempted
                                 first degree murder, first or second degree
                                 murder, manufacture or delivery of controlled
                                 substances, manslaughter, homicide by reckless
                                 conduct, first degree sexual assault, taking
                                 hostages, kidnapping, burglary while armed with
                                 a dangerous weapon, burglary using an explosive
                                 to open a depository, committing battery on a
                                 person who is lawfully in a burglarized
                                 enclosure during a burglary, or committing a
                                 felony at the request of or for the benefit of a
                                 criminal gang.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --any child statutorily excluded may have his or
                                 her case waived back to juvenile court.

Wy  Sections 14-             17  Prosecutorial Discretion
om  6-203,
in  14-6-237                     --child 14 or older charged with violent felony
g                                or with any felony if child has been previously
                                 adjudicated as a delinquent under two separate
                                 petitions for acts that would constitute
                                 felonies.
                                 --child 17 or older.

                                 Judicial Waiver

                                 --child 13 or older.

                                 Reverse Waiver

                                 --criminal court may transfer to juvenile court
                                 any proceeding commenced in criminal court over
                                 which juvenile court has concurrent
                                 jurisdiction--juvenile court has concurrent
                                 jurisdiction by statute over all minors (except
                                 those 12 or younger charged with an offense
                                 punishable by more than 6 months incarceration
                                 over which it has exclusive jurisdiction).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  This analysis focused on the state laws that were passed
through 1994, some of which became effective in 1995.  Certain
violations committed by juveniles are treated as if they were done by
adults in many states; namely, fish and game violations, traffic
violations committed by juveniles old enough to obtain drivers
licenses, and contempt of court.  In addition, some states have
provisions that allow the juvenile to request that his or her case be
waived to criminal court or that provide for waiver or prosecutorial
discretion when the charges are violations of alcohol and tobacco
possession laws.  These types of provisions are not included in the
table. 

When a case is waived to criminal court because of the nature of the
charge, charges arising out of the same incident or which are
otherwise joinable are usually also transferred.  When waiver is in
the juvenile court's discretion, common prerequisites are that there
must be a waiver hearing where it is found that there is probable
cause that the child committed the act and that it is in the best
interests of the child and community that there be waiver of
jurisdiction. 

The category of statutory exclusion in the table includes state
statutory provisions that require that the juvenile be transferred to
criminal court from juvenile court (identified as "mandatory
transfer" provisions). 

\a An information is a written accusation made by a public
prosecutor.  It is used in place of a grand jury indictment to bring
a person to trial. 

\b Reverse waiver in New York--Juvenile Offenders (juveniles who
commit statutorily excluded offenses) originally appear before local
criminal court.  The criminal court may, at the request of the
prosecutor or the juvenile, remove the action to family court. 
However, if the juvenile is charged with second degree murder, first
degree rape, sodomy, or an armed felony, the criminal court may not
remove the case to family court, unless the criminal court finds one
of the following three factors:  (1) mitigating circumstances, (2)
that the juvenile's participation in the offense was minor, or (3)
possible deficiencies in proof. 

In addition, the grand jury may request removal to family court if it
finds that the juvenile committed a crime, the crime is one for which
the grand jury may not indict a juvenile (i.e., offenses other than
those listed in the statutory exclusions), the grand jury does not
indict, and there is legally sufficient evidence that the child
committed a crime.  The court must approve the request unless it is
improper or insufficient on its face. 

After the juvenile is arraigned upon an indictment in Superior Court,
the Superior Court may, upon motion of any party or its own motion,
order removal to family court.  However, if the juvenile is charged
with one of the above enumerated offenses the Superior Court must
obtain the prosecutor's consent and find one of the above listed
factors in order to remove to family court. 

Source:  GAO review of state statutes. 


SUMMARY OF CONFINEMENT CONDITIONS
FOR JUVENILES IN ADULT
CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES
=========================================================== Appendix V

The following data regarding the conditions of confinement of
juveniles in seven adult correctional facilities that we visited was
provided by facility officials without our verification. 


   HOUSING
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix V:1

In Ohio, juveniles were housed within the general prison population
irrespective of their age.\1 However, in Florida, Michigan, and North
Carolina, younger inmates (typically those under age 26) were usually
housed in prisons designated for that age group.  At six of the
prisons we visited, age was not considered when making housing
assignments within the prison.\2

Housing units in the prisons we visited varied in layout from single-
or double-bunk cells to dormitory style structures.  Housing units
typically had common-use bathroom facilities.  In addition, most
housing units' common-use areas typically were equipped with
televisions. 


--------------------
\1 According to a deputy warden at Southeastern Correctional
Institution in Ohio, the prison formerly accepted many of Ohio's
young offenders (age 21 and below).  However, due to problems
associated with violence among young offenders, they will now be sent
to other prisons, and older inmates are being integrated into the
Institution. 

\2 The Florida Correctional Institution is a women's prison that
housed inmates of all ages. 


   HEALTH SERVICES
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix V:2

At all seven prisons, health care was available on site.  Generally,
the health staff was composed of a physician, nurses, and a dentist. 
Upon entering the prison system, all inmates were to be subjected to
a physical examination.  Inmates were to be allowed daily visits to
the health unit.  When an inmate requested to see a nurse, generally
the request was to be granted within 24 hours.  If an emergency
occurred, the inmates' care was to be handled at the prison or at an
off-site hospital.  Additionally, the facilities usually were to
provide mental health counseling and offer some form of drug
rehabilitation.  For example, in Florida, new inmates were to be
screened to determine if they needed substance abuse services. 
Substance abuse services available in Florida prisons included
treatment ranging from a 40-hour educational program to a 6- to
12-month intensive program. 


   EDUCATION, VOCATION, AND WORK
   PROGRAMS
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix V:3

Education, vocation, and work programs were available at all prisons
we visited.  During classification, inmates were generally to be
given an opportunity to indicate their preferences for participation
in these programs.  Factors to be considered by prison officials when
assigning inmates to these programs included inmates' length of
sentence, educational level, and security classification. 

In six of the seven prisons, generally all inmates were to
participate in an education, vocation, or work program.\3

Education programs available at the prisons included classes dealing
with the Graduate Equivalency Diploma (GED) test and adult basic
education.  Class sizes generally ranged from about 15 to 30 inmates. 
However, at the Handlon Michigan Training Unit, an adult basic
education program had much smaller class sizes, which sometimes had a
teacher to inmate ratio of 1 to 1 for inmates testing below the eight
grade reading and math level. 

All of the prisons offered a variety of vocational programs.  These
programs included auto mechanics, masonry, electronics, horticulture,
and drafting.  The Florida Correctional Institution for women offered
vocational programs in data entry, sewing, and cosmetology.  Some
factors considered when assigning inmates to vocational and education
programs included their custody classification and educational level. 
Also, because some programs took as long as 16 months to complete,
inmates with sentences shorter than the length of the program were
not eligible to participate. 

Inmates not participating in education or vocational programs were to
be required to work.  Job assignments included cooks, dishwashers, or
food servers in the prison kitchen, lawn maintenance on the prison
grounds, or work at the prison store.  In Ohio, Michigan, and North
Carolina inmates were paid a nominal salary to work or attend school. 
For example, in Ohio, inmates could earn up to $20 per month.  In
addition, inmates at the Florida Correctional Institution,
Southeastern Correctional Institution, and the Michigan Reformatory
could participate in prison industry programs that produced products,
some of which were marketed outside of the prisons.  For example, at
the Michigan Reformatory, the Michigan State Industries employed
about 90 inmates in an on site furniture factory. 


--------------------
\3 At the Michigan Reformatory, a maximum security prison, inmates
were not required but had the option to work or attend school. 


   RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix V:4

All prisons provided a variety of recreational activities and
equipment.  During leisure time inmates generally had access to a
library, television, weight-lifting equipment, table tennis, and pool
tables.  One prison provided cable programming on a large screen
television, and another prison provided a built-in swimming pool
(which inmates paid for) and a tennis court.  Several of the prisons
had intermural sports, including flag football, basketball, and
softball. 


   DAILY SCHEDULE
--------------------------------------------------------- Appendix V:5

Inmates at the prisons we visited had similar daily schedules. 
Generally, they began the day between 6:00 a.m.  and 8:00 a.m. 
Typically the inmates were counted about four times daily.  Following
the morning count, breakfast was served.  After breakfast, inmates
reported to their school or work assignments for about 3 hours. 
Lunch was usually served around 12:00 p.m.  After lunch, inmates
returned to their school or work assignments for another 3 hours. 
Dinner was served around 5:00 p.m.  After dinner, inmates had time to
participate in various recreational and religious programs or other
activities from about 6:00 p.m.  until about 9:00 p.m.  Inmates were
locked in their housing units with lights out at about 11:00 p.m. 


MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS REPORT
========================================================== Appendix VI

GENERAL GOVERNMENT DIVISION,
WASHINGTON, D.C. 

James M.  Blume, Assistant Director, Administration of
 Justice Issues
Barry Jay Seltser, Assistant Director
William J.  Sabol, Senior Social Science Analyst
Barbara A.  Stolz, Senior Social Science Analyst
Joanne M.  Parker, Senior Social Science Analyst
Brenda I.  Rabinowitz, Evaluator
Maria D.  Strudwick, Evaluator
George H.  Quinn, Jr., Computer Specialist
Pamela V.  Williams, Communications Analyst

OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL,
WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Jan B.  Montgomery, Assistant General Counsel
Rachel A.  Ramsey, Legal Intern
Matthew L.  Robey, Legal Intern

DETROIT REGIONAL OFFICE

Henry L.  Malone, Regional Management Representative
Kelly M.  Haggard, Evaluator-in-Charge
Jacqueline M.  Nell, Evaluator
Edward O.  Price, Computer Programmer Analyst

