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Jurors Judgement Of Juveniles Essay

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Jurors’ Judgement of Juvenile Offenders When a juvenile is transferred to adult court and seen as a criminal defendant, they are entitled to a trial. Jurors typically receive no special instructions regarding the juvenile’s age when a child is transferred to adult court (Semple & Woody, 2011). There are many issues with this: the jury may infer that a younger or older juvenile has a crime severe enough to be tried as an adult may have committed prior crimes and they may acquit younger juveniles based on the belief that a criminal trial in inappropriate. A number of studies have investigated jurors’ responses to juveniles in criminal court.
Jury Bias A study completed in Philadelphia examined defendants charged with homicide. This study …show more content…

Age appears to exert a powerful influence on jurors’ judgements of defendants. Ghetti and Redlich (2001) evaluated differences between mock jurors’ perceptions of adult defendants and juvenile defendants tried as adults. They manipulated the age of the defendants as well as other variables related to severity and impulsiveness of the crime. They found that younger defendants were perceived as less accountable and less competent, but the defendant’s age did not significantly affect the length of sentence suggested (Ghetti & Redlich, …show more content…

Additional research is needed to examine the reasons behind these perceptions. On one hand, these harsh evaluations may be the result of negative stereotyping of juveniles tried as adults. On the other hand, these harsh evaluations may also reflect a realistic understanding among the public that juveniles waived to adult are often charged with more serious crimes than those remaining in juvenile court. Although jurors may correctly understand that juveniles tried as adults are often charged with more than those remaining in juvenile court, it does not mean that this general understanding should be applied to a particular juvenile defendant, as each case is

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