Citation

Lemmon JH, Austin TL, Verrecchia PJ, Fetzer M. Youth Violence Juv. Justice 2005; 3(3): 214-234.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1541204005276263

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The study describes implementation of legislation that excludes youth offenders from juvenile court jurisdiction and examines two elements of deterrence theory that underscored the legislation's rationale. Between-court analyses comparing youths decertified to juvenile court with those remaining in criminal court report no between-court differences concerning the certainty of punishment. Although the criminal court was more likely to impose more severe sentences, controls on legal sentencing factors explained the between-group differences. Legal and extralegal factors predicted the likelihood of certainty and severity of punishment within the juvenile and adult systems respectively. Implications for the restorative justice model are discussed.