Delinquency Cases Waived to Criminal Court, 1988-1997

• NCJ Number: 181084
• Author(s): Charles M. Puzzanchera
• Date Published: March 2000
• Length: 2 pages
• Agencies: OJJDP
• Publication Type: Statistics

Annotation

This fact sheet presents estimates of the number of cases transferred from juvenile court to criminal court through the judicial waiver mechanism between 1988 and 1997.

Abstract

These estimates were based on data from more than 1,900 jurisdictions representing nearly 70 percent of the U.S. juvenile population (youth age 10 through the upper age of original juvenile court jurisdiction in each State). For every 1,000 formally handled delinquency cases, 8 were waived to criminal court. The proportion of formally processed cases waived to criminal court varied by offense. The number of cases waived reached a peak in 1994 with 11,700 cases. Through 1992, property offenses outnumbered person offenses among waived cases. The trend reversed in 1993. The offense characteristics of waived cases varied by the race of the offender. From 1988 through 1997, the number of judicially waived cases involving black youth increased 35 percent, compared with a 14-percent increase for white youth. Figure, tables