NCJ Number
177656
Date Published
1998
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper explains the rationale for and the components of the Rotterdam Municipal Youth Policy Programme (Netherlands), a citywide effort to prevent juvenile delinquency.
Abstract
Based on an advisory commission's report (Van Montfrans Report), the program focuses on five domains: support in raising children, child and youth care system, education, employment, and situational crime prevention. Each of these domains comes under the responsibility of a municipal agency. Family support and child and youth care is the responsibility of the Public Health Department. Education, with a focus on a Partner School Program, is managed by the Municipal Education Department. A job opportunity program and other activities to improve the employment situation for youth are conducted by the Social Affairs Department. Leisure time and sports activities are the responsibility of the Municipal Recreation Department, and situational crime prevention is the responsibility of the Rotterdam Youth and Safety Programme. One of the projects in the Municipal Youth Policy Programme is the New Perspectives program, which involves a form of social work in which the social worker invests many hours in a small number of young clients who are on the fringe of society. The program is currently developing a strategy called a "Watertight Approach," which will focus on locating and serving youth who are neither in school nor employed. The program also includes the juvenile justice system in policies designed to deter juveniles from crime. For a limited number of petty crimes, such as shoplifting and vandalism, a community service program is offered. At the policy level, the juvenile justice system focuses on measures to ensure that punishment is faster and more consistent. Other aspects of the program involve school-based delinquency-prevention projects.