Juvenile sanctions for young adults in the Netherlands: A developmental perspective

Abstract

Since 2014 it has been possible to apply juvenile criminal law to young adults aged from 18 up to and including 22 years old in the Netherlands. This policy change is referred to as the Adolescent Criminal Law (ACL). According to the theory behind ACL, providing special treatment within the juvenile justice system to young adults during their transition into adulthood could reduce recidivism. In order to determine the relevance and impact of ACL regarding the application of juvenile sanctions to young adults, in this study a ‘Recently Introduced Policy instrument’ (RIPI) evaluation was conducted. The results suggest that applying juvenile justice sanctions to young adults could offer opportunities to cut short criminal careers and reduce crime amongst young adults. In addition, we found that the proportion of juvenile sanctions applied to young adults has increased despite the overall crime drop amongst young adults. Implications of our findings are discussed.

Social inequality in alternative sanctions: A register data study on all adolescent drug offenders in Norway 2005–2015

“…The number of alternative sanctions available for young offenders has risen despite an overall drop in crime rates in this segment (van der Laan et al, 2021). In a similar vein, political attention given to youth justice in Scandinavia seems somewhat unrelated to crime trends (Storgaard, 2005).…”

Primjena maloljetničkog prava u kaznenom postupku prema mlađim punoljetnicima

“…Drugi uvjet primjene ZSM-a odnosi se na kriminološku prognozu budućeg ponašanja mlađeg punoljetnika, odnosno sud mora biti uvjeren kako okolnosti koje se odnose na ličnost počinitelja opravdavaju uvjerenje da će se "svrha sankcija postići i izricanjem odgojnih mjera ili kazne maloljetničkog zatvora". Iako zakonodavac ne precizira o svrsi kojih sankcija je riječ, slažemo se da u tom slučaju sud treba uzeti u obzir prvenstveno svrhu maloljetničkih sankcija, 28 kao i opću svrhu kaznenih sankcija propisanu u KZ-u. 29 Kako bi sud mogao pravilno donijeti odluku o tome, mora detaljno ocijeniti rizične i zaštitne čimbenike iz počiniteljeve okoline: osobne i obiteljske prilike mlađeg punoljetnika (psiho-fizički razvoj, emocionalnu i socijalnu zrelost počinitelja, karakteristike njegove obitelji, socio-ekonomske uvjete života, tijek školovanja, naznake zloupotrebe alkohola ili opojnih droga, negativan utjecaj iz bliže okoline), ponašanje u trenutku i nakon počinjenja kaznenog djela (pobude iz kojih i okolnosti u kojima je djelo počinjeno, odnos prema oštećeniku i žrtvi, je 24 Hirjan, F., Singer, M., op.…”

“…Carić, M. Pleić, I. Radić: Primjena maloljetničkog prava u kaznenom postupku prema mlađim... Hrvatski ljetopis za kaznene znanosti i praksu (Zagreb), vol. 28…”

Young Adults in the Justice System: The Interplay between Scientific Insights, Legal Reform and Implementation in Practice in The Netherlands

“…To assess the practical implications of the amended legislation, it is important to have a look at the number of young adults that has been affected by this law. This is monitored extensively by the Scientific Research and Documentation Centre [ Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek- en Documentatiecentrum, WODC ] of the Ministry of Justice as well, which has been commissioned by the government to evaluate this law from 2014 until the end of 2019 (see Barendregt et al, 2016, 2018; Prop et al, 2018; Van der Laan et al, 2016, 2021).…”