In recent years, many states have responded to public sentiment with legislation providing court officials greater discretion in remanding juvenile offenders to adult criminal court. In 1994, for example, Louisiana State Legislature approved House Bill 64 which accomplished both a broadening of the adult court's jurisdiction and a lowering of the age at which waiver to the adult court was possible. This study focuses on whether the provisions of House Bill 64 are consistent with New Orleanians' attitudes toward the treatment of juvenile offenders. In a random survey of 212 respondents, New Orleanians' attitudes are found to be based on several jurisdictional elements such as the offender's age and record of prior juvenile detention, the type of weapon used, if any, and the physical assault of the victim. However, several extra-legal variables, such as race, are also significant. In regard to the effects of race, the data reveal that the offenders' race is a significant predictor--the odds that black offenders would elicit feelings that transfer to adult court is appropriate are significantly higher relative to those for white offenders. Further, the analysis reveals that the effect of offender's race is dependent upon his age at the time of the offense and is consistent across categories of respondent's race. Implications for public policy are discussed / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_23863 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Contributors | Feiler, Stephen Matthew (Author), Sheley, Joseph F (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
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