Youth transferred to the adult corrections system recidivate at a higher rate than those kept in the juvenile justice system, and the adult system struggles to keep youth safe and provide them appropriate services, according to a December 2011 report (.pdf) from the National Institute of Corrections.

The findings stem from a June 2010 meeting where NIC convened three dozen juvenile justice and adult corrections experts.

Youth transferred to the adult system are 34 percent more likely than youth retained in the juvenile system to be re-arrested, the report says, adding that even research that controls for details of the crimes found that youth tried as adults are more likely to reoffend.

The report, written by Jason Ziedenberg, director of juvenile justice policy and research at Washington, D.C.-based M+R Strategic Services, also notes that a Centers for Disease Control task force found insufficient evidence behind assertions that trying youths as adults acts as a deterrent against youth crime in general.

Youths also face numerous issues in the adult system. Most states permit pretrial detention of youths being tried as adults in adult facilities--and 10 require it. A Bureau of Justice Statistics study found that of the victims of inmate-on-inmate sexual violence in jails in 2005 and 2006, 21 percent and 13 percent, respectively, were youth under the age of 18. But only 1 percent of all jail inmates are juveniles, the report notes.

Jails also often lack services for mental health problems and learning disabilities. The report recommends that governments reexamine where is the appropriate place to manage youth pretrial and consider more pretrial release and supervision, especially for those suspected of nonviolent offenses. Supervision costs less, and the savings can go toward improvements that will keep detained youths safer.

Probation and parole agencies also sometimes lack age-appropriate supervision. Probation fees that are appropriate for adults can lead youths to drop out of school and look for work. Adult service programs also interfere with school when they take place during the day.

About 250,000 youths end up in the adult system each year, mostly due to jurisdiction laws. Ten states consider all 17-year-olds adults in criminal proceedings, and in addition, New York and North Carolina include all 16-year-olds.

Ziedenberg points out that only 13 states publicly report the total number of their transfers, and even fewer report details like offense profiles, demographics, information about processing and sentences. It is not known what kinds of services youth receive while in custody or how many are on probation and parole as a result of an adult conviction. The lack of data leaves the national picture fragmented and incomplete, he writes.

The report calls for more research, at the state and local level, into the implications of transfer. Notably, the BJS has begun a new data collection effort with a nationally representative sample to learn more about youth in the adult system.

For more:
- download the report, "You're an Adult Now: Youth in Adult Criminal Justice Systems" (.pdf)

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