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Criminalizing Delinquency: The Deterrent Effects of the New York Juvenile Offender Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Simon I. Singer  and
David McDowall
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Abstract

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New York's Juvenile Offender (JO) Law of 1978 is a significant step away from separate systems of justice for adults and juveniles. The law requires that juveniles accused of violent offenses be tried in criminal court, and it provides penalties comparable to those for adults. This paper evaluates the impact of the JO Law on violent juvenile crime rates in New York City and in upstate New York. Analyzing arrest data through the use of an interrupted time series model, we conclude that the JO Law has not been effective in reducing juvenile crime.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , 1988 , pp. 521 - 535
Copyright
Copyright © 1988 by The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

Authorship of this paper was equally shared. We thank Mohsen Bazargan for his research assistance and Robert Kidder, Frank Munger, and anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. This research was supported by Grant 85-1J-CX-0026 from the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions stated are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

References

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Statutes Cited

Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 1976 (1976 N.Y. Laws § 878).Google Scholar
Juvenile Offender Law of 1978 (1978 N.Y. Laws § 481).Google Scholar