10.8. Getting Tough: Initiatives for Punishment and Accountability 
ALISON S. BURKE 
The 1980s saw a huge shift in the way states and federal laws were addressing juvenile law. Gangs, gun 
violence, and drugs drew attention to the identification, punishment, and prevention of violent and chronic 
youth offenders. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) focused research on 
youth violence and state and local programming. Attention focused on the identification and control of 
serious, violent, and chronic offenders. 
1 
At the state level, lawmakers enacted policies to crack down on youth crime.  In the mid-1990s the idea of 
the juvenile superpredator– youth so impulsively violent, remorseless, and have no respect for human life- 
led to widespread reform and more punitive approaches to juvenile crime and delinquency. This included 
more punitive sentences, lowering the age at which a juvenile could be tried as an adult, and loosening the 
provisions for trying juveniles in adult court. The motto “adult time for adult crime” drove accountability 
initiatives and get-tough campaigns. A youth was no longer seen as vulnerable minors in need of protection 
and treatment. Instead, the narrative changed and they were seen as violent monsters acting “with no 
conscience and no empathy”, a statement Hillary Clinton has publicly regretted saying. 
Rethinking zero tolerance 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZDFs-EmP74 
Waiver and Adult Time 
All states have enacted laws that allow juveniles to be tried in adult criminal courts. There are several 
mechanisms by which a juvenile can be transferred to adult criminal court: prosecutorial, legislative, 
and judicial waiver. The prosecutorial waiver also is referred to as “Direct File” and “Concurrent 
Jurisdiction.” With this waiver mechanism, the legislature grants a prosecutor the discretion to determine 
1. Krisberg, B., & Austin,J. (1978). History of the Control and Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency in America.  In B. Krisberg & J. Austin 
(Eds.), The Children of Ishmael: Critical Perspective on Juvenile Justice (pp. 7-50). Palo Alto, CA: Mayfield. 
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