The decline that occurred in most of the U.S. during the past decade coincides with the fact that most states now permit minors to be tried as adults for violent crimes and all states have a procedure for transferring juveniles to the adult criminal system (Males and Macallair). Some of the transfers to adult court even occur automatically based on the juvenile’s age and crime. However, since this is governed by individual states, there is no consistency to which juveniles get transferred and for what crime which may explain why certain cities and areas are having more difficulty (Collier).