Juvenile Delinquency and Age (From The Future of the Juvenile Justice System, P 69-78, 1991, Josine Junger-Tas and Leonieke Boendermaker, et al., eds. -- See NCJ-133019)

• NCJ Number: 133025
• Author(s): I Sagel-Grande
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 10 pages
• Sale Source: ACCO Tiensestraat 134-136
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: Belgium
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. A paper from an international conference on the future of the juvenile justice system, May 29-31, 1989, in Noordwijkerhout, the Netherlands.

Annotation

This study uses data from a Dutch study of chronic juvenile offenders to determine how age of first crime commission compares with the minimum age of criminal responsibility in most countries.

Abstract

The general study from which the data were taken involved interviews with and the testing of 110 juvenile inmates. This paper used only data on delinquency and age. The average age at the first offense, according to the self-report of the sample, was 11.9 years. Under Dutch law, there is no criminal responsibility under age 12. Of the chronic juvenile offenders, 46.5 percent had committed at least one offense by age 12. Should the age of criminal responsibility be changed to age 14, 66.3 percent of the 110 chronic juvenile offenders would have committed criminal acts before the age of legal responsibility. Since chronic delinquents often begin their criminal careers at a very early age, measures should be taken to target such early offending and involve various private and public organizations in the provision of services to these youth so as to counter the development of a criminal career. 7 tables and 7 references