Recriminalizing Delinquency
Violent Juvenile Crime and Juvenile Justice Reform

Recriminalizing Delinquency examines attempts to transfer jurisdiction over juveniles accused of violent crime to criminal court.

Simon I. Singer (Author)

9780521629201, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 November 1997

248 pages, 16 b/w illus. 21 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.378 kg

"...this is a book worthy of significant attention. Its instruction in evaluation research and on the triangulation of methods elevates Singer's study, which could serve as a good instructional tool....Policymakers and analysts would be well advised to consult this book." Kimberly Kempf-Leonard, Contemporary Sociology

Recriminalizing Delinquency presents a case study of legislation that redefines previous acts of delinquency as crimes, and delinquents as juvenile offenders. It examines one state's response to violent juvenile crime through waiver legislation that transfers jurisdiction over juveniles from juvenile court to criminal court. It focuses on the creation, implementation, and effects of waiver legislation that lowered the eligible age of criminal responsibility to thirteen for murder and fourteen for other violent offenses. In the end, recriminalization is seen as an effort to return a part of the juvenile justice system to the conditions that existed prior to the creation of juvenile courts.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Recriminalizing violent juvenile crime
2. Taking stock of juvenile justice reforms
3. Recriminalization on the move and its legal rules
4. Contextual and legal reasons for identifying juveniles as criminal offenders
5. The case processing of juvenile offenders: from arrest to disposition
6. Recriminalization and organizing for deterrence
7. Convicted juvenile offenders in a maximum security institution
8. Concluding 'real' reasons for recriminalizing delinquency
Appendices
Notes.

Subject Areas: Crime & criminology [JKV]