in which court to file charges against the juvenile. 
2 The prosecutor, or district attorney, can choose to file 
charges in juvenile court or adult criminal court. This procedure does not require a transfer hearing, so the 
defense is not accorded the opportunity to present evidence in an attempt to avoid the transfer 
3 
Legislative waiver, or statutory waiver, identifies certain offenses which have been mandated by state 
law to be excluded from juvenile court jurisdiction. It is utilized as a method to decrease or eliminate 
the discretionary powers of judges and prosecutors. For example, the number of state statutes specifies that 
violent felony offenses such as homicide, rape, and robbery, when committed by older adolescents, are 
automatically sent to adult criminal court. 
In the News: Raising the Age and Raising the Bar 
As part of the “Raise the Age” legislation passed in 2017, all minors on Rikers Island awaiting trial or 
otherwise, have to be moved out of the notorious New York City jail in October 2018. Rikers Island is 
famed for abuse, corruption, and violence and has begun the 10 years shut down a plan to close the scandal-
ridden jail complex.  The jail houses some 9,000 inmates, more than 2,000 who are juveniles.  The plan is to 
reduce the jail population while moving the inmates to other facilities throughout New York’s boroughs. 
Part of the reduction in the number of inmates stems from the recent law which mandates that 16 and 
17 year-olds in New York State will no longer automatically be charged as adults in criminal courts. And 
the age raises even more, to 18, on October 18, 2 019. 
Rikers Island has a sordid history of brutality and inhumane treatment of prisoners.  Perhaps the most 
well-known case in recent history is the story of Kalief Browder, a 16-year-old kid from the Bronx, who 
was charged with stealing a backpack.  Although he claimed he was innocent, he ended up spending 
three years at Rikers Island, and more than two years were spent in solitary confinement.  The charges 
were eventually dismissed and Browder was released, but the time spent in solitary caused significant and 
detrimental mental health issues.  Tragically, he committed suicide in 2015, just two years after his release.  
His case garnered national attention prompting New York to ban the use of solitary confinement for 
inmates under the age of 18. 
Research shows that solitary confinement is linked to mental health problems like depression, anxiety, 
psychosis, and even suicidal ideation.  For these reasons, all federal prisons ban solitary confinement for 
juveniles and most states don’t allow the use of solitary in juvenile facilities. However, solitary is still used 
in adult prisons. Each year around 200,000 youth are tried as adults and many are sentenced to time in 
regular, adult prisons. Many of these state jails and prisons still use solitary confinement for the “safety” and 
“protection” of juveniles housed with adults (Resitvo, 2019). 
Raising the age legislation is a step in the right direction and will prevent more juveniles from beginning 
sent to adult facilities. New York and North Carolina were the last two states in the nation to charge 16 
and 17 year-olds as adults up until last year when both amended their laws. The legislation will have a 
2. Feld, B.C. (2001). Race, youth violence, and the changing jurisprudence of waiver. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 19(1), 3-22. 
3. Steiner, B., Hemmens, C., & Bell, V. (2006). Legislative waiver reconsidered: General deterrent effects of statutory exclusion laws 
enacted post-1979. Justice Quarterly, 23(1), 34-50 
ALISON S. BURKE, DAVID CARTER, BRIAN FEDOREK, TIFFANY MOREY, LORE RUTZ-BURRI, AND SHANELL
SANCHEZ
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