The purpose of intake screening is to make decisions about the continued processing of cases. Traditionally, intake screening has been performed by probation officers. However, in recent years there has been a move toward the involvement of the prosecuting attorney in the intake process. Waiver or transfer to criminal courts a. A special intake decision that can be made in some juvenile cases is to waive or transfer a case to a criminal court for trial.
Waiver occurs in cases where youths meet certain age and offense criteria.
In many states, before a youth is transferred to an adult criminal court a separate waiver or transfer hearing must be conducted to determine the waiver's appropriateness. Although the waiver process varies from state to state, at the typical waiver hearing probable cause must be shown. A second method of waiver now available in some states is prosecutorial transfer. In these states legislation has been passed that allows the prosecutor to file certain cases directly in the criminal court when a youth meets certain age and offense criteria. Finally, some states have simplified the waiver process so that it is much easier to transfer some cases to criminal court for trial.