Western European Perspectives on the Treatment of Young Offenders (From Juvenile Rehabilitation Reader, P IV.1-IV.30, 1985, Peter W Greenwood, ed. - See NCJ-101426)

• NCJ Number: 101428
• Author(s): G Hawkins; F E Zimring
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 30 pages
• Sale Source: Rand Corporation
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This review examines the English-language literature on correctional treatment programs for serious juvenile offenders in England and Western Europe.

Abstract

At present, the age of criminal responsibility ranges from 7 in Switzerland to 15 in Sweden and Denmark. The maximum age covered by the juvenile justice system in Western Europe varies from 16 to 20. In general, Western European countries have looked to America for models of treatment and juvenile delinquency research. An analysis of the subject matter covered by criminological journals between 1964 and 1983 indicates a worldwide decline in attention given to juvenile crime and its prevention or treatment. Of published studies, few have examined the effectiveness of various approaches to serious juvenile delinquency. This lack of attention to treatment programs and their effectiveness may be an expression of increasing feelings of frustration and futility and declining confidence in rehabilitation programs. Despite this decline in the rehabilitative ideal in Western Europe, there has been no movement away from the special treatment of juvenile offenders; nor has the absence of differential treatment effects been associated with pressures to re-assess the premises of juvenile justice. Tables and 34 footnotes.