Ouders ter zitting. Een onderzoek naar de rol van ouders tijdens enkelvoudige jeugdstrafzittingen in de rechtbanken van Den Bosch, Den Haag & Haarlem

Abstract

Literature shows that parents are playing an important role in the development of criminal behavior of their children. Parents are in different ways involved in youth court proceedings. Therefore, one would expect that parental attendance and participation in youth sentence hearings would have some influence on the outcome of youth cases. This study explores the parental involvement in youth court proceedings. The youth sentence meetings will be observed in the courts of Den Bosch, Den Haag and Haarlem. Following to the youth sentence hearing, a questionnaire will be used in order to obtain information about the perception of the suspects group and their parents. Personal interviews with juvenile judges will be used to obtain information about their ideas about the parental role here. Results indicate that the majority of parents attended youth sentence hearings. Parental participation is important and currently satisfying. The role of parents during the hearings should not be overestimated, because of the restricted available time and the priority of the judgment of the suspected child. However courts need to be more proactive in encouraging parental participation.