Waiver and Transfer Provisions Of the Juvenile Court Statues

Waiver and Transfer Provisions Of the Juvenile Court Statues
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Introduction
The criminal justice system has the main goal of reducing crime in the society. Before the introduction of the juvenile court system, juvenile offenders were treated in the Adversarial Criminal Justice System, in the same manner as adults (Brink, 2004). These influenced legislators in many countries to think of alternative procedures that could be used in dealing with youthful offenders instead of subjecting them to the harsh treatment in the criminal justice system. Consequently, this led to the establishment of juvenile courts that focused more on rehabilitation rather than punishment (sellers & Arrigo, 2009). Court proceedings were made more informal, and youthful offenders were since distanced from the Adversarial justice system. Various states developed Juvenile court systems across the U.S where offenders below the age of 18 were tried for their offences (Steward-Lindsey, 2006).
The American judicial system has undergone changes in the recent years particularly the juvenile system. These has been as a result of complains from the public for the states to be tough on crime. Various states have advanced different approaches that advocate for juvenile waiver and transfer (Steiner & Wright, 2006). Juvenile transfer waiver laws are statutes allowing young offenders to be transferred from juvenile courts to criminal courts. This means that, they are prosecuted as if they are adult with the range of penalties being great.
Overtime different states have adjusted their weaver laws. The following are the classification of the various weaver laws that have been advanced (Schubert et all., 2010).Discretionary waiver is the provision that allows juvenile court judges to transfer a case involving a minor from a juvenile court to an adult criminal court. Mandatory waiver is when the state demands that juvenile offenders under the juvenile courts be transferred to adult criminal courts. The state directs the juvenile courts to carry out this function. Presumed waiver involves the state classifying cases into categories such that certain cases must be transferred to adult criminal courts under the law. Statutory exclusion entails excluding cases that involve youths from juvenile courts if the statutes do not support such an offence to be tried under the juvenile courts. The final class that of once an adult always an adult. This involves statutes in which the state stops juvenile courts from trying offenders who have ever been tried under the adult courts for being tried in Juvenile justice system (Brink, 2004).
Overtime, states have advanced on their waiver laws to streamline the movement of cases from juvenile courts to criminal courts so that prosecution becomes easier. This has been accompanied by deletion of some offences from juvenile statutes in most jurisdictions or adding simultaneous authority provisions to laws that are already established (Brink, 2004). This paper critically analyzes the trend in the waiver and transfer provisions in juvenile court statutes toward a criminalization of the juvenile court system. 
Waiver and transfer provisions in juvenile court statutes and the criminalization of the juvenile court system.
These provisions are intended to reduce crimes but scholars have been able to prove that waivers and transfers cannot deter crime or reduce incidences of recidivism. Recent trends in research show that the statutes concerning transfers and weavers do not in themselves account for decreased levels of juvenile offending or reoffending (Steiner & Wright, 2006). When juveniles are transferred to adversarial courts, the results are shocking as most of them either recividate or leave the systems more hardened criminals. Putting the youthful offenders in same custody as the adults puts their life at risk, since they can easily be injured by the adults. It has been observed that most of the youths who pass through the adult system are always detained for longer periods that their counterparts and minority youths are the ones who are often sent to the adult criminal justice system (Steiner & Wright, 2006). Cognitive development and Juvenile fitness have a great influence on the lives of the juveniles. When exposed to conditions where they are subjected to harsh treatment, they are likely to experience lack of impulse control and slower brain development.
It is observed that transferring violent offenders directly to the adult...