Do the Crime, Do the Time

This book provides a fresh look at the way the United States is choosing to deal with some of the serious or persistent youth offenders: by transferring juvenile offenders to adult courts.

For more than 20 years now, the attitude in some jurisdictions has been “if you’re old enough to do the crime, you’re old enough to do the time.” After two decades of applying this increasingly punitive mindset to juvenile offenders, it is possible to see the actual consequences of transferring more and younger offenders to adult courts.

In Do the Crime, Do the Time: Juvenile Criminals and Adult Justice in the American Court System, the authors apply their decades of experience, both in the practical world and from unique research perspectives, to shed light on the influence of public opinion and the political forces that shape juvenile justice policy in the United States. The book provides a fresh look at the way the United States is choosing to deal with some of the serious or persistent juvenile offenders, utilizing real-life examples and cases to draw connections between transfer policies and individual outcomes.

Author Biography

G. Larry Mays, PhD, is Regents Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces. Mays is author or editor of 18 books and nearly 100 scholarly articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and practitioner publications.

Rick Ruddell, PhD, is Law Foundation of Saskatchewan Chair in Police Studies and faculty in the Department of Justice Studies at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Ruddell received his doctorate in criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, and his research has focused upon policing, criminal justice policy, and juvenile justice.