Youth Transfers to the Adult Corrections System More Likely to Reoffend

Juveniles transferred to adult corrections systems reoffend at a higher rate than those who stay in the juvenile justice system, according to a new report from the National Institute of Corrections (NIC). The report also found insufficient evidence that trying youths as adults acts as a crime deterrent.
Entitled “You’re an Adult Now,” the report published in December 2011 is based on the findings of three-dozen juvenile justice and adult corrections experts convened by the NIC in 2010 to identify challenges when youth are transferred to adult court.
Highlighted in the report, written by Jason Ziedenberg, director of juvenile justice at M+R Strategic Services, was research by the Centers for Disease Control that found youth transferred to the adult system are 34 percent more likely than youth who remain in the juvenile justice system to be re-arrested for violent or other crimes.
The safety of juveniles in adult prisons is also a serious concern, according to the report, which cites a Bureau of Justice Statistics study that found, 21 percent of the victims of inmate-on-inmate sexual violence in jails in 2005 were under the age of 18. The same study reported 13 percent were victims in 2006. However, the report notes only one percent of inmates are younger than 18.

Also cited as a serious concern, the report said juveniles often lacked access to services for mental health and learning disabilities.
In the report, the NIC calls for more research into the effects of juvenile transfers.

The post above is reprinted with permission from the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, supported by the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. 

Ryan Schill is a reporter for the Georgia-based Juvenile Justice Information Exchange. He also hosts the Juvenile Justice Week in Review, a fast-paced one-minute video roundup of the week’s top juvenile justice stories. Ryan is currently a graduate student studying professional writing at Kennesaw State University in Georgia as well as editor-in-chief of KSU's student feature magazine, Talon.