Between Protection and Repression: A Short History of Juvenile Policing in the Netherlands
| Published date | 01 September 2007 |
| Author | Manon van de Riet,Wim Bernasco,Peter van der Laan |
| DOI | 10.1350/ijps.2007.9.3.214 |
| Date | 01 September 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Between protection and repression: a
short history of juvenile policing in the
Netherlands
Manon van de Riet, Wim Bernasco and Peter van der Laan
Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), PO Box 792,
NL-2300AT Leiden, the Netherlands. Tel: +31 (0)71 527 85 27; Fax: +31 (0)71 527 85 37;
email: MvandeRiet@nscr.nl
Received 17 June 2006; revised and accepted 10 October 2006
Keywords: the Netherlands, juvenile crime, children’s laws, youth crime,
police
Manon van de Riet
(corresponding author)
holds an MA in clinical psychology and is a PhD
student studying the subject of police inter-
actions with minors by means of qualitative data
and observations of daily interactions between
police and juveniles.
Peter van der Laan
works as a senior
researcher at the Netherlands Institute for the
Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR).
He is also professor of social and educational
care at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural
Sciences, University of Amsterdam. He has
served as an expert for the Council of Europe
and the United Nations on juvenile justice issues.
For many years he has been involved in research
concerning criminal justice in general and the
impact of (semi-)criminal justice interventions in
particular. He has a special interest in issues
regarding juveniles.
Wim Bernasco
is senior researcher at the
Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and
Law Enforcement (NSCR). His work focuses on
spatial aspects of criminal activities, including
variations in crime and delinquency between
neighbourhoods, offender travel behaviour and
target selection, and crime displacement.
A
BSTRACT
The police in the Netherlands have traditionally
been characterised by restraint when dealing with
cases involving minors. However, this policy of
minimal intervention appears to be waning in
recent years. This shift from welfare to justice
seems to be in line with the developments in other
European countries. This article comments on this
development by framing it in the long-term
history of juvenile policing in the Netherlands. It
describes the founding and development of the
Juvenile Police as an organisation, and sketches
the parallel changes in juvenile policing that
occurred during the twentieth century. The organ-
isation of juvenile policing has changed con-
siderably over time with a visible tendency away
from welfare oriented policing. As such, restraint
and minimal intervention may no longer charac-
terise the way Dutch police handle juvenile
offenders.
INTRODUCTION
To ensure the care and protection of chil-
dren, criminal justice systems in western
societies have special provisions for young
people. These include — but are not lim-
ited to — a minimum age of criminal
responsibility, a special set of formal crim-
inal justice procedures, other types of sanc-
tions and lower maximum lengths of prison
sentences. There are also many differences
between these systems; some countries tend
International Journal of Police
Science and Management,
Vol. 9 No. 3, 2007, pp. 214–225.
© Vathek Publishing,
1461–3557
Page 214
International Journal of Police Science & Management Volume 9 Number 3
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