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Different State Laws Related to Trying Juveniles as Adults

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All 50 states have some type of provision for transferring certain juvenile offenders to be tried as adult criminal offenders. There are three basic types of juvenile transfer laws: automatic (also called legislative exclusion), judicial-discretionary, and prosecutorial-discretionary. Give a brief description of the different types of juvenile transfer laws and how they are used in different states. What types of special issues do juveniles face in adult prison? Do you agree that juveniles should be tried as adults for certain crimes? Be sure to support your argument with research and examples.

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Solution Summary

There are three ways in which juveniles are tried as adults in the criminal justice system (called juvenile transfer): automatic (also called legislative exclusion), judicial-discretionary, and prosecutorial-discretionary. These methods are described and their use by different states is examined.

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Under legislative exclusion, judges and prosecutors have no say in the decision to try a minor as an adult. If a minor over a certain age commits a certain type of crime, usually felonies and drug crimes, they are automatically tried as adults. This is also called statutory exclusion.

Judicial-discretionary laws require judges to approve the transfer of a juvenile to an adult court. The judge will consider the minor's background and the seriousness of the crime in making this determination.

Prosecutorial-discretionary laws allow the prosecutor alone to determine whether the juvenile should be tried as an adult. If a minor is over a certain age (determined by state legislature) the prosecutor has the sole discretion to treat the minor as ...

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