The future of criminal violence: Juveniles tried as adults

Juveniles tried as adults (JTA) represent a select and small subsample of j uvenile offenders. This study seeks to provide a profile of habitually viol ent JTAs transferred to the adult penal system and to compare them with the ir adult counterparts. Twenty-nine incarcerated violent male juveniles trie d as adults were compared with a sample of 27 incarcerated violent male off enders across demographic, neuropsychological, criminal history, psychopath y, and substance abuse variables. The JTAs were characterized by a high rat e of gang membership (96%), substance abuse (alcohol, marijuana, and phenyl cyclidene), and use of guns. In the juvenile sample, 65 percent used guns i n violence not leading to arrest, and 93 percent used guns in a violent cri me leading to arrest. Juvenile offenders were similar to their adult counte rparts in patterns of criminality, although adult offenders had higher psyc hopathy scores. Both groups revealed generally intact neuropsychological fu nctioning with the exception of a higher rate of perseverative responses in the adult sample. The results are discussed in terms of the implication of the degree of violence in a young offender population.