Evolution of Juvenile Law and the Functions of Juvenile Courts (From Fonction sociale du tribunal de la jeunesse, P 15-35, 1979 - See NCJ-72264)

• NCJ Number: 72266
• Author(s): M van deKerchove
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 21 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Historical Overview
• Language: French
• Country: Belgium

Annotation

Under the guise of continuous expansion of the rights of minors and of the tailoring of treatment programs to the needs of individual clients, the Belgian government is extending social control to include the juveniles' families.

Abstract

The ostensible purpose of the latest (1965) Belgian juvenile code reforms is to protect the juvenile offender and to treat and rehabilitate him, regardless of the seriousness of his offense. This focus on the personality rather than the offense of the juvenile gives the judge almost unlimited discretion in sentencing. If the juvenile is diagnosed as dangerous to society, even though he may only be guilty of noncriminal misconduct, he can be sentenced to an institution until he is 21, or even longer. Personalization of treatment and the socalled depenalization of offenses committed by juveniles may not be so advantageous to the youthful offenders as it appears. The codes combine humanitarian concern for child welfare conflicting with goals of the protection of society and the effectiveness of crime control. Until 1965, juvenile court judges focused on problem children, regarding the children's families as allies in the court's treatment and rehabilitation efforts. While formerly social control was limited to the juvenile offenders, the courts have now started regarding the juvenile offenders' families as coresponsible. Entire families are now placed under strict supervision and the main function of juvenile courts is to confer legitimacy to this new, extended social control and its mechanisms. These measures affect predominantly the lower socioeconomic strata of the population. Affluent upper class families choose private institutions for their children who get in trouble, disregarding expense to avoid governmental interference. Low-income parents who cannot afford expensive private care must solicit juvenile authorities to help them cope with delinquent children and thereby they submit themselves to the intensive social control which juvenile authorities exercise on their lives. Extensive footnotes include bibliographic references.