NCJ Number
43878
Date Published
1976
Length
191 pages
Annotation
THE OPERATION OF TWO POLICE BUREAUS IN THE NETHERLANDS WERE EXAMINED IN ORDER TO ANALYZE THE BEHAVIOR OF THE JUVENILE POLICE.
Abstract
A STUDY OF THE JUVENILE POLICE IN AMSTERDAM AND THE HAGUE WAS UNDERTAKEN BY COLLECTING INFORMATION FROM ABOUT 1,000 RECORDS ON FILE IN THE JUVENILE POLICE BUREAU OF THE HAGUE AND A 5-MONTH OBSERVATION OF THE OFFICERS OF THE JUVENILE POLICE BUREAUS OF THE HAGUE AND AMSTERDAM. THE WORK PROCEDURES AND THE ORGANIZATION OF THE BUREAUS WERE ESTABLISHED ON THE BASIS OF DIARY ENTRIES. DATA PROVIDED BY OBSERVATION LISTS WERE ANALYZED STATISTICALLY TO GIVE A SURVEY OF THE HANDLING OF THE CASES AND THE DISPOSITION CRITERIA THAT WERE USED. THE JUVENILE POLICE AS AN ORGANIZATION EXERCISED DISCRETION IN THE DISPOSITION OF AN OFFENSE. MOREOVER, EACH OFFICER HAD HIS OWN WAY OF EXERCISING DISCRETION. THE APPROACH OF THE OFFICER TOWARDS THE OFFENDER AND THE OFFENDER'S WILLINGNESS TO COOPERATE WERE CLOSELY LINKED WITH THE QUALITY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THEM. SERIOUSNESS OF OFFENSE, AGE, AND RECIDIVISM HAD A BEARING ON THE DISPOSITION CRITERIA. DIFFERENCES IN DECISIONMAKING BETWEEN AMSTERDAM AND THE HAGUE WERE THE RESULT OF DIFFERENCES IN STYLE BETWEEN THE JUVENILE POLICE OF THE TWO CITIES. SOME SUGGESTIONS WERE REGULAR ACCOUNTING OF DISPOSITION CRITERIA, CLEARER POLICY-LINES, AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE OFFENDER TO EXPRESS POSSIBLE MISGIVINGS ABOUT TREATMENT BY THE POLICE, AND CREATION OF A NONJUDICIAL ORGANIZATION TO HELP OFFENDERS. A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY WERE PROVIDED. --IN DUTCH. (WVK)