Parents and juvenile delinquency in the Netherlands

1
Parents and juvenile delinquency in the
Netherlands

• Maison de la Chimie, Paris
• 21 January 2008
• Peter van der Laan
• University of Amsterdam
• Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and
  Law Enforcement

2
Delinquency prevention and juvenile justice
policies in the 1980s and 1990s

• Minimal intervention
• Juvenile responsible
• Childrens rights

3
Juvenile justice practice

• Number and length of penal sanctions limited
• Strong increase of community sanctions at various
  levels (police, prosecutor, court) community
  service and training programmes
• Procedures similar to adult procedures

4
Parents

• Role of parents acknowledged from the beginning
  of the 20st century
• Responsibility of parents increasingly mentioned
  last decade

5
Background

• Social control theory and developmental and life
  course model to explain juvenile delinquency
• Includes risk factor model
• Family important risk factor domain

6
Risk factors

• Poor parenting
• Abuse and neglect
• Violence between parents
• Criminal parents en delinquent siblings

7
Measures related to parents

• Supervision order
• Release of parental rights
• Invitation to attend court proceedings
• Formally agree to community sanctions

8
New ideas

• Parenting support programmes
• From voluntary to compulsory (imposed) from
  crime prevention to (penal or administrative)
  sanction
• Financial liability proposal to set age at 17
• Suggestion to limit child benefits

9
Dilemmas

• Repressive tendencies in society and politics
• Addressing other risk factor domains
• Parenting as a dynamic risk factor
• Effectiveness of parenting and other
  interventions