NCJ Number
166272
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article examines how the Dutch trial system deals with young offenders from apprehension through sentencing.
Abstract
In Holland defendants aged 12 or over are dealt with by a criminal trial and offenders younger than 12 are brought before the family court. In cases of very grave offenses, a lengthy criminal history or suspicion of physical or psychological problems, the juvenile is often held in pretrial detention for a maximum of 104 days in a locked youth center. The special regime there involves work in groups, education, crafts, sport and psychiatric observation. Juvenile court procedures are closed to the press and public, and a young offender has an appointed lawyer. Witnesses are seldom heard, as they were already heard by the instruction judge. In the case of a grave crime, a guilty verdict carries a maximum sentence for 12- to 16-year-olds of 1 year in a youth prison and for 16- to 18-year-olds it is 2 years. The 2-year maximum term applies when there has been aggression against groups rather than personal violence. It can be up to 4 years where the aggression was against individual persons and up to 6 years when the defendant is not wholly mentally responsible. The 4- and 6-year periods can continue after the offender¦s 18th birthday and must be reviewed every 2 years. The Dutch system is not based on retribution but on trying to ensure that the young offender does not commit another crime.