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

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Laan, A. M. van der (Author)
Contributors: Barendregt, Charlotte S. ; Beerthuizen, Marinus G.C.J.
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
In: European journal of criminology
Year: 2021, Volume: 18, Issue: 4, Pages: 526-546
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Keywords:
Young adult offenders
emerging adulthood
increasing maximum age of juvenile law
psychosocial immaturity
Description
Summary: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.
ISSN:1741-2609
DOI:10.1177/1477370819854163