Juvenile Transfers to Adult Court: An Examination of the Long‐Term Outcomes of Transferred and Non‐Transferred Juveniles

• Published date: 01 September 2015
• Date: 01 September 2015
• Author: Melanie Taylor
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jfcj.12050

Juvenile Transfers to Adult Court:

An Examination of the Long-Term Outcomes of

Transferred and Non-Transferred Juveniles

By Melanie Taylor

ABSTRACT

Juveniles who are transferred to adult court are more likely to recidivate than

non-transferred juveniles, but limited research has examined how transfer can impact

other life outcomes like attending college and employment. To examine this issue,

data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1997) were analyzed from

1998 to 2011. It was found that court involvement during adolescence does not harm

educational attainment. However, prosecution of juveniles in adult court significantly

impairs earning potential well into adulthood. The current study provides further

evidence of the long-term harms caused by transfer and demonstrates how transfer

further disrupts the desistance process.

Keywords: Juvenile transfer, Juvenile court, Reentry

The acquisition of human and social capital is harmed following periods of incar-

ceration. Most notably, incarceration in adulthood has been found to reduce the likeli-

hood of college attainment (Strayhorn, Johnson, & Barrett, 2013), limit potential job

opportunities (Huebner, 2005; Pager,2003), result in lower salaries (Grogger, 1995), and

harm marriage prospects (Huebner, 2005). Incarceration further disrupts the natural

desistance process when these positive social attachments are damaged (Laub & Sampson,

2001). However, adolescent involvement in the juvenile justice system is unique because

the adverse effect of system involvement diminishes over time for certain outcomes.

What remains unclear is whether juveniles who are placed into the criminal justice

system through the transfer process face long-term harms in education and employment

similar to adults or if they experience a fleeting impact of system involvement similar to

non-transferred juveniles.

Melanie Taylor is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of

Nevada, Reno. She previously was employed as a deputy juvenile correctional officer with the Orange County

Probation Department. Correspondence: Melanie Taylor, Department of Criminal Justice, University of

Nevada, Reno, 1664 N. Virginia St, Reno, NV 89557, melanietaylor@unr.edu

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Juvenile and Family Court Journal 66, No. 4 (Fall) 29

© 2015 National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

The transfer practice has been criticized because juveniles are removed from a

system designed under the parens patriae doctrine, which treats juveniles from a rehabili-

tative perspective and provides unique services not required in the adult system, poten-

tially harming their reentry outcomes (Feld, 1999). Furthermore, upon transfer juveniles

face more punitive sentencing when compared with young adult offenders who commit-

ted similar types of offenses (Kurlychek and Johnson, 2004). With the exception of

recidivism (Jordan, 2012; Myers, 2003), scant research has focused on the harms that the

transfer of juveniles into adult court has on future life outcomes. The current study

extends prior research on the long-term effects of incarceration on entrance into positive

social institutions, including educational attainment and employment outcomes. By

using non-transferred youths as the comparison group, the current study explores how

the experience of transfer influences college enrollment, college graduation, vocational

training, and annual income in adulthood.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Impact of Incarceration on Adult Future Outcomes

It has been well documented that incarceration has a significant negative effect on

a host of important life events in adulthood, including attending college. Limited

research has examined the disparities in college attendance by formerly incarcerated

persons versus those who were never incarcerated. An analysis of data from the National

Longitudinal Survey of Youth in 1979 (NLSY79) showed that incarcerated persons have

on average 1.85 fewer years of education than those who were never incarcerated (Brown,

2015). Additionally, only 14% of the sample obtained a college degree after being

released from prison, whereas 28% of adults in the United States have a bachelor’s degree

or higher (Ryan & Siebens, 2012). One of the most extensive studies on this topic

outlined the challenges faced by ex-offenders attending universities (Strayhorn, Johnson,

& Barrett, 2013). Being labeled as an ex-offender “negatively affected some peer inter-

actions, limited options for campus involvement, and all-too-often shaped faculty

members’ perceptions of the students” (p. 84), which ultimately led to “feelings of social

alienation and marginalization” (p. 91). Other research suggests that ex-offenders face

financial limitations in attending universities (Brandstetter, 2008), but that when

ex-offenders do attend college, they have decreased recidivism rates (Chappell, 2004;

LoPinto, 2000).

Much more extensive research has explored incarceration’s impact on income and

employment outcomes. For example, one survey of ex-offenders following release from

prison showed that specific types of offenders, including those with mental health issues

and who were older, were employed fewer months than offenders with strong social ties

(e.g. connected to employers) (Visher, Debus-Sherrill, & Yahner, 2011). These poor

employment outcomes are further worsened following long stints in prison (Ramakers

et al., 2014). Others have found that incarceration is most harmful to African American

males, as they have decreased chances of being interviewed for employment when

30 | JUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JOURNAL / Fall 2015