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Juvenile Sentence Reform and Its Evaluation

A Demonstration of the Need for More Precise Measures of Offense Seriousness in Juvenile Justice Research

Sam Houston State University

Despite the intent of juvenile sentence reforms to create sanctions that approximate punishments imposed by the criminal court, evaluations of the new laws indicate what appears to be the continued lenient treatment of juveniles. One explanation for this phenomenon is that within similar charges, juvenile offenses are far less serious than adult offenses. In order to explore this idea, prosecutors of one New Jersey county were asked to rate the seriousness of the behaviors of 500 adults and 500 juveniles charged with assault or robbery. With respect to both offenses, the behaviors of juveniles were regarded as substantially less serious than the behaviors of adults. These results highlight a need for the use of more precise measures of offense seriousness in juvenile justice research.

Evaluation Review, Vol. 12, No. 6, 655-666 (1988)
DOI: 10.1177/0193841X8801200605


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