Survival of the Protection Model? Competing Goals in Belgian Juvenile Justice
Belgium is a small (with a surface of 32.545 km2) but well-situated country in the northwest of Europe. It consists of over 10 million citizens (10,396,421 on 1 January 2004) of whom 6 million live in the Northern, Dutch-speaking part (Flanders), almost 3.4 million in the Southern, mostly French-speaking part and close to 1 million in the region of Brussels (bilingual). As in other European countries, families in Belgium are becoming smaller and smaller. The fertility rate is 1.56 children per woman. So Belgium is faced with an aging population, 15% of whom are older than 65. The portion of juveniles (0–19 years) has diminished from 24.6% in 1990 to 22.4% in 2003 and the prognosis is a further decrease to 20.2% in 2021 (VRIND, 2003). On 1 January 2004 Belgium consisted of approximately 875,000 juveniles aged 12–17,1 almost half a million of them live in the Flemish region, more than 300,000 in the Walloon part and over 75,000 in the region of Brussels.2
Psychiatric Disorder in Detained Male Adolescents as Risk Factor for Serious Recidivism
Objective: A growing body of research consistently shows that detained minors bear substantial mental health needs. However, the relation between mental disorder and criminal recidivism has largely remained unexplored. Our study examines whether psychiatric disorders increase the likelihood of recidivism after controlling for time at risk, criminal history, and the presence of other disorders. Method: Participants (n = 232) were detained male adolescents from all 3 youth detention centres in Flanders, Belgium, who were interviewed with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, Version IV. Two to 4 years later, information on serious recidivism was retrieved from the official judicial registration system. Serious recidivism was defined as having at least one arrest charge for violent, severe property crime, or substance-related offences. Results: Serious recidivism was high, with 81% (n = 191) of the participants being rearrested. Psychiatric disorders predicted neither serious recidivism in general nor violent and severe property recidivism. However, other drug use disorder (OR 2.41; 95% CI 1.22 to 4.75) and general comorbidity (OR 2.64; 95% CI 1.40 to 4.99) were significantly predictive of substance-related recidivism. Conclusion: Common psychiatric disorders in detained male adolescents do not significantly increase the likelihood of subsequent arrests, with the exception that substance use disorders appear to increase the risk of later substance-related recidivism. Effective treatment of these disorders may prevent detained juveniles to experience the detrimental outcomes associated with substance-related crimes as adults (for example, mental illness).
The Transfer of Juveniles to Criminal Court: Does it Make a Difference?
Recidivism of 2,738 juvenile offenders who were transferred to criminal court in Florida in 1987 was compared with that of a matched sample of delinquents who were retained in the juvenile system. Recidivism was examined in terms of rates of reoffending, seriousness of reoffending, and time to failure, with appropriate adjustments made for time at risk. By every measure of recidivism employed, reoffending was greater among transfers than among the matched controls.