NCJ Number
132665
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 52 Issue: 5 Dated: (August 1990) Pages: 106,108,110,112,113
Date Published
1990
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Based on interviews with social workers, lawyers, police officers, and parents; legal pamphlets and documents; and the author's firsthand observation of legal proceedings, this article describes and assesses the processing of juveniles involved in lawbreaking and problem behaviors in Norway.
Abstract
There is no punishment in Norway for crimes committed by children under 15 years old. Older juveniles may be tried in ordinary courts of law and sentenced to prison. In practice, however, the public prosecutor will transfer juvenile cases to a division of the "social office." Police evidence is turned over to the social workers, not for prosecution, but for "treatment." The juvenile welfare boards determine case disposition. The boards are composed of five members elected by the municipal council for 4 years. Most of the board members are women and nonprofessionals. The board is advised by the child welfare office of the "facts" in the case well before the hearing. Prior to the hearing, the youth will have been placed in a youth home or mental institution. The parents right to custody will already have been terminated; juveniles and their parents may make brief statements and pleas for a return of the child to the family home. They are then dismissed, followed by the child welfare office's presentation of treatment recommendations. Juveniles rarely appear before the board with an attorney. There is no opportunity for juveniles, their parents, or their attorneys to rebut any of the testimony or cross examine the witnesses. Children typically receive harsher treatment than do adults for similar offenses, as they may be placed in a juvenile institution for an indeterminate period until treatment is deemed successful. The system is characterized by the oppression of children and their parents under the guise of "care and protection." Where care and protection were intended, power and secrecy have prevailed. Juvenile justice in Norway today parallels the juvenile justice of yesterday in America. 8 references