The study discusses the different means of measuring homicide and why they reach different results. The study complements NCIA's recent finding that just four cities together accounted for a third of the nation's juvenile homicide arrests in 1994. Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Detroit were home to one in three juvenile homicide arrests though only one in twenty juveniles. States like Delaware and New Hampshire had zero juvenile homicide arrests in 1994, but they are subject to federal legislation designed with the concentrated youth violence of Los Angeles in mind. The Director of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives, Herbert Hoelter, contends that the findings demonstrate the error of many proposed legislative solutions.
Politicians draft sweeping, broad based legislation even though the problem is relatively confined.
As a result, they overshoot their mark. The study applies the data on type and frequency of juvenile crimes to the issue of transfering juveniles to adult court. Every state currently has the authority to transfer children in certain circumstances, and the data suggest that transfer is used more frequently than necessary. We do not need to broaden it. The study is part of a Symposium Issue on Youth Violence published by the Valparaiso Law Review, Volume 31, Number 2, Spring 1997.