Automatic Transfer In Juvenile Prisons

Robert Smith
Juvenile Justice
First Research Paper

The automatic transfer provisions were originally started as a way to become more firm with juveniles to stop in order to lower crimes and hopefully keep them from becoming criminals in the future. It has been very effective in putting juveniles in jail, but many argues that it is not doing what the makers of automatic transfer intended it to do. Although automatic transfer is back by many politicians, many of the people who oppose it are concerned parents and community leaders. Automatic transfer has been in use in this country since the fourties, but the opposition to is growing. There are several offenses that would require a child be transferred from juvenile court to becoming
One can also be charged with first degree murder when he has murdered more than one person at a given time or used poison. First degree murder is a capitol offense. Also felony murder and second degree murder are included. Felony murder is murder that occurred during a forcible felony. An example would be robbing someone at gunpoint and killing them. The second offense is aggravated criminal sexual assault. Aggravated criminal sexual assault does not include just rape. Violent rapes, statutory rapes, ,improper touch and torture are examples of aggravated criminal sexual assault. The third offense is aggravated battery with a firearm. Battery is when one person injures or makes contact with someone is a way that it could cause injury. Take the example of the robbery mentioned before. If the person had just hit the person with the gun or shot them in the leg, then instead of murder the charge would have been aggravated battery with a firearm. The next offense is armed robbery committed with a firearm. Now if the offender who had been robbing people with his gun just taken their money and left without injuring anyone or
I believe that most juveniles who break the law will likely keep doing until they get caught. Most of the penalties for breaking the law for juveniles are somewhat weak. Juveniles faces and names are not seen on the news or the paper unless they commit a murder. And after they become adults, the records are sealed. Automatic transfer keep juveniles from taking advantage of the juvenile justice system by not allowing them to commit heinous offenses without answering for it. Furthermore, it sets an example to other children to show them what will happed if they decide to act out. In my opinion its deterrence factor is great. The main problem peoples have with automatic transfer concerns mainly drug offenses and the impact it has on minorities. There is a great discrepancy in the number of minorities falling prey to it. From 1995 to 1999 99.2% of the juveniles prosecuted in Cook County for drug offenses were minorities, according to an analysis of juveniles who were caught selling drugs inside 1,000 feet of a school or housing complex by WBEZ radio in Chicago. Out of the 363 cases only 52 were placed in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections, making it seem like many of the charges were not serious enough for prison time. What is more alarming is that out of the 393 were transferred not just for drugs offense from October 1999 to October 2000, only 3 of these juveniles were white,