NCJ Number
92062
Date Published
1983
Length
29 pages
Annotation
Although the Dutch juvenile justice system attempts to deal with all juveniles according to their best interests, there is some selective processing of minority juveniles for a variety of reasons, so that there is a massive entry of these juveniles into the justice system. Police research is focusing on more effective ways of dealing with minority groups.
Abstract
Minorities in the Netherlands consist of two broad ethnic groups: (1) so-called guestworkers and their families from Mediterranean countries (about 300,000) and (2) immigrants from Surinam and the Dutch Antilles (about 180,000). Ethnic minorities constitute about 5 percent of the total population, but they are heavily concentrated in four large cities (Utrecht, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and the Hague), where they form about 10 percent of the population. Although there is no evidence of pervasive discriminatory practices toward minorities in Dutch society, research findings do indicate some racial bias and selective police handling of minority youth. Discriminatory practices are not large scale, however. The higher percentage of police contacts with minority youth appears to be partly due to the greater likelihood of persons reporting misbehavior by minority youth than by Dutch youth. The police and social agencies also tend to feel that social work intervention with minority families causes too many difficulties and is likely to be futile, thus leaving only the option of formal processing in the juvenile justice system. The delinquency of minority youth generally consists of property crimes. The report discusses relevant government policy and police research on the handling of minority youth. Tabular data are provided along with nine bibliographic entries.