2008 Woodie Awards
Rethinking juvenile justice
Samantha Miller - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Metro
- Page 1 of 1
It's not uncommon for juveniles to be sent through the adult justice system, local officials attest - though a new report claims this trend may be detrimental.
The report, compiled by a panel appointed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, took a look at nine different studies concerning juvenile offenders before recommending against tougher transfer policies for youths.
"Transfer policies are implemented to reduce violent or other criminal behavior," said the panel, known as the Task Force on Community Preventative Services. "Available evidence indicates that [transfer policies] do more harm than good."
UI sociology Professor Celesta Albonetti said it isn't surprising that transfer policies result in long-term higher rates of crime for juveniles.
"It's commonsensical to think that whom you hang out around affects what you do," she said, attributing increased crime for youths after incarceration in adult facilities to their exposure while behind bars.
The task force's findings collaborate this, stating in its results that the transfer of youths to the adult criminal-justice system typically leads to greater subsequent crime. The panel asserts that the trend is "counterproductive."
Johnson County prosecutor Janet Lyness said that in many cases, she'd rather avoid sending a youth into the adult criminal system.
"For juveniles, you want to be able to get their behavior to change," she said. "We really try to deal with a juvenile in a juvenile court."
She said she prefers to keep youths in the juvenile system because of services available to them there, which would not otherwise be offered.
But Lyness said that some circumstances call for a juvenile to be tried as an adult. The Iowa Legislature mandates that minors who are at least 16 years old and commit certain offenses would have to be charged as an adult, she said. A "forcible felony" - such as robbery, sex abuse, and murder - would always go to an adult court in these cases, she said.
"These crimes are not discretionary," the prosecutor said. "They have to be tried as an adult."
Lyness said that another case in which a juvenile would be tried as an adult would be if he or she was about to "age out" - is close to turning 18. Considering the time a case would take to go through the system, there would be no reason for that kind of defendant to spend time in a juvenile court, she said.
"We want to make sure that there's nothing we can do for them in a juvenile court before trying them as an adult," she said.
E-mail DI reporter Samantha Miller at:
samantha-a-miller@uiowa.edu
The report, compiled by a panel appointed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, took a look at nine different studies concerning juvenile offenders before recommending against tougher transfer policies for youths.
"Transfer policies are implemented to reduce violent or other criminal behavior," said the panel, known as the Task Force on Community Preventative Services. "Available evidence indicates that [transfer policies] do more harm than good."
UI sociology Professor Celesta Albonetti said it isn't surprising that transfer policies result in long-term higher rates of crime for juveniles.
"It's commonsensical to think that whom you hang out around affects what you do," she said, attributing increased crime for youths after incarceration in adult facilities to their exposure while behind bars.
The task force's findings collaborate this, stating in its results that the transfer of youths to the adult criminal-justice system typically leads to greater subsequent crime. The panel asserts that the trend is "counterproductive."
Johnson County prosecutor Janet Lyness said that in many cases, she'd rather avoid sending a youth into the adult criminal system.
"For juveniles, you want to be able to get their behavior to change," she said. "We really try to deal with a juvenile in a juvenile court."
She said she prefers to keep youths in the juvenile system because of services available to them there, which would not otherwise be offered.
But Lyness said that some circumstances call for a juvenile to be tried as an adult. The Iowa Legislature mandates that minors who are at least 16 years old and commit certain offenses would have to be charged as an adult, she said. A "forcible felony" - such as robbery, sex abuse, and murder - would always go to an adult court in these cases, she said.
"These crimes are not discretionary," the prosecutor said. "They have to be tried as an adult."
Lyness said that another case in which a juvenile would be tried as an adult would be if he or she was about to "age out" - is close to turning 18. Considering the time a case would take to go through the system, there would be no reason for that kind of defendant to spend time in a juvenile court, she said.
"We want to make sure that there's nothing we can do for them in a juvenile court before trying them as an adult," she said.
E-mail DI reporter Samantha Miller at:
samantha-a-miller@uiowa.edu
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