Should Juveniles get waivered to adult criminal court? In today’s law, juveniles are allowed to be waivered into adult criminal court depending on certain circumstances. When a juvenile is transferred to a criminal court, the juvenile would be getting a sentence that an adult would get if they would have committed the same crime. In the past twenty years there has been a lot of changes within the juvenile justice system. Many states have started to lower their age range where juveniles can be transferred to adult criminal court for crimes that they have committed. Today the District of Columbia and all fifty states let the prosecution file a motion and go through the process for a transfer to adult court (NCJA). Florida is one of the most well known states that transfers juveniles over to the adult criminal court. Florida sends more than 60 percent of their juveniles into adult court (Human Rights Watch). In the 60 percent of juveniles transferred to adult court, only 2.7 percent are transferred for murder (Human Rights Watch). In a study done by Bishop and Frazier, they found that juveniles that are transferred to adult criminal court are more likely to recidivate (as cited in Loughran 2011). Bishop and Frazier also found that the juveniles recidivate at a higher rate and are re-arrested for more serious crimes than other juveniles who stayed in the juvenile justice system (as cited in Loughran 2011). In the Ohio Revised Code, the juvenile has to be charged with a felony or a capital offense such as aggravated murder, murder, attempted aggravated murder, or attempted murder (ORC). The juvenile also has to be a minimum age of fourteen (ORC). Some criminal acts that children commit fall into a mandatory transfer, which means certain crimes are automatically transferred to adult criminal court. The child who is being charged with the crime has to go through an investigation and a hearing before they can be transferred (waivered) to adult criminal court. Some factors that are looked for in the hearing are that there is probable cause to believe the child committed the alleged offense, there are reasonable grounds to believe the child is not amenable to care or rehabilitation in any facility for delinquent children, and the "safety of the community may require that the child be placed under legal restraint" if necessary (ORC). Components in the prehearing/ investigation include the child has a mental examination (can adequately waive or be refused), investigate the child 's social history, education, family situation, and other factors bearing on if the child is amendable in juvenile rehabilitation (ORC). Some relative factors to make the court in favor of transferring a juvenile are: victim suffered physical or psychological harm, serious economic harm, child 's relationship with the victim facilitated the act the child is charged with, the child committed the criminal act for hire and/or as part of a gang / organized criminal activity (ORC). Additional factors that influence their decision are if the child used or displayed a firearm during the act of the crime, the child is awaiting to be charged from a previous crime, under community control sanction, or on probation before committing the new crime then no programs or rehabilitation will not happen in the juvenile system (ORC). If the child has emotional, physical, or psychological maturity then that favors a transfer (ORC). Lastly, there is not enough time to rehabilitate the child in the juvenile system (ORC). Some factors to advise the court not to transfer the delinquent child are the victim induced or facilitated
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Also juveniles are more easily influenced than adults are to do criminal activity by their peers. Juveniles by law commit deviant acts not crimes. Therefore, young children who have committed a deviant act should be rehabilitated to not become a criminal, but to get them out of the crime route. Also if a juvenile is transferred to adult court, they are looked upon as a really bad criminal and should be punished harsher than an adult who committed the same crime. As a society we should try to rehabilitate the juvenile so they become a productive member of society and not just put them in the criminal system. Once they are in the system it is hard for the juvenile to get
Also juveniles are more easily influenced than adults are to do criminal activity by their peers. Juveniles by law commit deviant acts not crimes. Therefore, young children who have committed a deviant act should be rehabilitated to not become a criminal, but to get them out of the crime route. Also if a juvenile is transferred to adult court, they are looked upon as a really bad criminal and should be punished harsher than an adult who committed the same crime. As a society we should try to rehabilitate the juvenile so they become a productive member of society and not just put them in the criminal system. Once they are in the system it is hard for the juvenile to get