@article{ref1,
title="Getting Tough on Juvenile Crime: An Analysis of Costs and Benefits",
journal="Journal of research in crime and delinquency",
year="2002",
author="Fass, SM and Pi, CR",
volume="39",
number="4",
pages="363-399",
abstract="Recent decades have seen juvenile justice broaden its focus from the child and treatmentto include offenses and accountability. This expansion, manifest in juvenilecodes that support punishment and doctrines that include transfers to adult criminalcourt, has had significant caseload and fiscal impacts. However, a scarcity of pertinentresearch and of cost-benefit analyses leaves unclear whether this newer, get-toughfocus achieves greater delinquency reduction than previously attained. Combinedwith a quasi-experimental empirical simulation of the effects of punitive sanctions,a cost-benefit analysis of alternative dispositions in Dallas County, Texas, suggeststhat harsher sentencing can indeed prevent some offenses. The value of thisgain, however, is much less than its cost to produce. As a result, by consuming publicresources that might otherwise be invested in more productive purposes within or outsidethe justice system, the policy of toughness visits substantial opportunity costs oncommunities that embrace it.<p />",
language="",
issn="0022-4278",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}