Research Addressing Transfer to CC

Abstract

Chapter 12 addresses the research that has purportedly examined transfer to criminal court (CC). Just about all research has been limited to gauging deterrence. The research results have been mixed; some studies have found greater deterrence served by transfer, others have found less. Other studies have found sentences in CC that were longer than what juvenile court (JC) could have imposed, and still others have found sentence shorter than the maximum JC disposition. The anti-transfer crowd (ATC) uses the latter situation to “prove” that transfer is unnecessary. This Chapter discloses the shortsightedness of the research, plus the serious methodological problems that compromise the findings, especially in matched-pair studies. Also identified are the very relevant factors that are typically ignored in the research. The Chapter explains the promise of better constructed propensity-score research, which controls more factors and has found greater deterrence through transfer. The Chapter finishes on a cautionary note to pro-transfer types not to expect stellar results from transfer.