A TEST OF THE DETERRENT EFFECT OF LEGISLATIVE WAIVER ON VIOLENT JUVENILE CRIME

The automatic transfer of juveniles charged with serious crimes to adu lt court has become an increasingly common alternative to juvenile cou rt handling in a number of states in the past two decades. Deterrence is one of the major arguments underlying this growth in the use of leg islative waiver. This research evaluated the deterrent effect of the 1 981 Idaho legislative waiver statute. Analyses of arrest data using a time series design indicated that this taw did not reduce violent juve nile crime.