In response to a spike in juvenile crime rates during the transition into the Civil Rights era, states enacted tough punitive transfer laws that made it easier to automatically transfer juveniles to the adult criminal justice system, trying and sentencing adolescents as adults. Automatic transfer laws exempt certain crimes from being processed through the juvenile justice system by addressing the issue of juvenile delinquency based on irrational fears of a juvenile superpredator. Over the last several decades, the media portrayed the juvenile superpredator as gangs of urban thugs responsible for the majority of gun-related homicides and drug-related crimes nationwide. For example, nighty news would often report on bands of inner city adolescents as: fatherless, soulless, without conscience, beyond redemption, spiritually poor and were wilding their way through the streets committing all manner of horrific crimes [citation].
These automatic transfer laws addressed the issue of juvenile delinquency by exempting certain crimes from being processed through the juvenile courts and have grown in popularity over the last several decades due to the irrational fears of a juvenile superpredator. Moreover, providing prosecutors and judges with the flexibility and discretion in trying juveniles as adults, such as Proposition 21 …show more content…
Transferred adolescents are incarcerated at a higher rate than at the juvenile level while being subject to adult like sentencing and or pretrial detention [citation], losing access to resources vital to their overall development. Moreover, transferred adolescents face a higher risk of assault and emotional abuse while being housed in adult facilities [citation]. Automatic transfer laws suggest that rehabilitation can no longer be considered a priority if a minority adolescent and or if the traditional American way of life is at
These automatic transfer laws addressed the issue of juvenile delinquency by exempting certain crimes from being processed through the juvenile courts and have grown in popularity over the last several decades due to the irrational fears of a juvenile superpredator. Moreover, providing prosecutors and judges with the flexibility and discretion in trying juveniles as adults, such as Proposition 21 …show more content…
Transferred adolescents are incarcerated at a higher rate than at the juvenile level while being subject to adult like sentencing and or pretrial detention [citation], losing access to resources vital to their overall development. Moreover, transferred adolescents face a higher risk of assault and emotional abuse while being housed in adult facilities [citation]. Automatic transfer laws suggest that rehabilitation can no longer be considered a priority if a minority adolescent and or if the traditional American way of life is at