Degree Name

MA (Master of Arts)

Program

Criminal Justice and Criminology

Date of Award

5-2007

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Larry S. Miller

Committee Members

John T. Whitehead, Michael C. Braswell

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the influences such as age at current offense, gender, race, previous convictions, and the seriousness of crimes that contributed to the decisions received by juveniles in adult court. This study examined a secondary data set from the United States Department of Justice entitled Juvenile Defendants in Criminal Courts (JDCC): Survey of 40 Counties in the United States, 1998. The cases from these 40 jurisdictions represented all filings during one month in 75 of the most populous counties. The current study found significant differences among race, prior criminal history, current offense severity, and juveniles adjudicated in adult court. Future research should therefore continue to examine the impact of juveniles adjudicated in adult court to better inform the debate surrounding the potential dangers associated with juvenile offending and adult criminal sanctions.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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