Benefits to Juvenile Court (JC)

Abstract

Chapter 13 details how transfer to criminal court (CC) benefits juvenile courts (JCs). The first benefit deals with JCs' maintaining a positive public image (and acceptance). Simply put, transfer allows JC to avoid claims of being a never-ending-revolving-door for juvenile offenders or a place where juveniles get away with murder. Unlike CCs, JCs need that positive image because they are not indispensable. As important, transfer helps JCs' operation by preventing them from becoming even more punitive (and criminalized), which would likely require an increase in the rights afforded to defendants. Transfer also helps the image of rehabilitation, critical to the preservation of JCs; it allows rehabilitation (a reward of sorts) to be denied to rapists and murderers (among others). Rehabilitation's operation is also benefitted by not losing resources that would be spent for increased rights in JC, and by not having violent and chronic offenders clogging up facilities and compromising the treatment of salvageable youths.