A NATIONAL SURVEY OF US STATUTES ON JUVENILE TRANSFER - IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY AND PRACTICE

A survey of the statutes on juvenile transfer and decertification in t he U.S. federal and 50 state jurisdictions, and the District of Columb ia, was performed. Relevant information was obtained on the procedures in each jurisdiction by which a juvenile can be tried in criminal cou rt, whether there are applicable decertification (''transfer back'') p rocedures in jurisdictions permitting criminal court processing throug h automatic file or prosecutorial discretion, and the burden and alloc ation of proof in relevant proceedings. We also identified four criter ia relevant to the mental, emotional, and developmental functioning of juveniles that are used in various jurisdictions in making transfer a nd decertification decisions: treatment needs and amenability, risk as sessment of future criminality, the presence of mental retardation or mental illness, and certain kinds of offense characteristics. The majo rity of jurisdictions now allow 14-year-old juveniles to be tried in c riminal court. Treatment needs/amenability and risk assessment are set forth as criteria relevant to transfer in the majority of jurisdictio ns as well, with the presence of mental retardation or mental illness explicitly relevant in a small number of jurisdictions. The patterns o f these findings are discussed in their implications far social policy and for the forensic mental health assessment of juvenile transfer an d decertification, with needed areas of research identified within eac h, (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.