Tag: court

National Print

A 7-Year-Old Was Accused of Rape. Is Arresting Him the Answer?

There appears to be little, if any, organized opposition to raising the age of delinquency. But those who resist say doing so would hamstring the legal system, according to Jeffrey A. Butts, the director of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Research and Evaluation Center. In rare cases involving a particularly dangerous child, he said, incarceration may prevent them from being a risk to others. Continue reading A 7-Year-Old Was Accused of Rape. Is Arresting Him the Answer?

Unknown's avatarJeffreyButts
Briefs

Less Serious Offenses Account for 90 Percent of the Growth in Juvenile Placements

Juvenile court cases involving charges of obstruction of justice, simple assault, drug law violations, vandalism, and disorderly conduct combined accounted for 48,200 new placement cases in 2008, or more than 90 percent of all growth in out-of-home placements between 1985 and 2008. Continue reading Less Serious Offenses Account for 90 Percent of the Growth in Juvenile Placements

Unknown's avatarJeffreyButts
Briefs

Transfer of Juveniles to Criminal Court is Not Correlated with Falling Youth Violence

The 1995-2010 drop in violent crime ranged from –50% to –74% in these states, but the size of the decline was not related to the use of transfer. Florida transfers more youth than any other state, but its violent crime drop (–57%) was in the middle of the range. In states that use transfer much less often, total violent crime fell almost as much (California and Washington) or far more (Ohio) than it did in Florida. Continue reading Transfer of Juveniles to Criminal Court is Not Correlated with Falling Youth Violence

Unknown's avatarJeffreyButts