Prosecution in Juvenile Criminal Cases; Eisen in jeugdzaken: Een inventarisatie van meningen over de 'requireerrichtlijn in kinderzaken'

• NCJ Number: 186307
• Author(s): A. M. van Breugel; L. Boendermaker
• Date Published: July 2000
• Length: 59 pages
• Sale Source: Netherlands Ministerie Van Justitie
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Country: Netherlands

Annotation

In order to achieve as much procedural equality and uniformity as possible, in 1997 the Board of Prosecutors General in the Netherlands decreed a sentencing guideline on how to prosecute in juvenile criminal cases; the study reported in this paper examined how the procedural guideline is used by the prosecution in juvenile criminal cases.

Abstract

In the Netherlands, the Public Prosecution Service is responsible for the procedural settlement of juvenile criminal cases. Both the prosecutors and the junior clerks of the Public Prosecutors office use the guideline. The study found that the respondents, particularly the prosecutors, felt that in some cases they have to deviate from it, due to the nature of the cases and organizational problems. In some of the districts, the prosecutors report that judges punish less severely than the recommended punishment in the guideline. This leads to an adjustment and milder prosecution by the prosecutors, because prosecutors adapt their charges to the anticipated judicial sentence. Another reason given to deviate from the guideline is a long period of time between the commission of the offense and the accused's appearance in court. Apart from these considerations prompted by the nature of the cases, other factors play a role, such as the lack of court capacity and of detention capacity in juvenile institutions. The survey shows that the personal situation of the accused plays an important part in the procedural settlement of cases in juvenile criminal law. The general opinion is that juveniles require more custom-made sentencing measures compared to adults. Because so many different functionaries of the Prosecution Service are involved in processing juvenile criminal cases, the introduction of the guideline to functionaries who are new to the job needs special attention. Frequent changes in personnel, especially prosecutors and, to a lesser degree, clerks, influence the knowledge of and the final use of the guideline. 20 references, 2 tables, and appended study questionnaire