To improve rehabilitation and reduce recidivism, adolescent criminal law provides tailor-made sanctioning in which the emphasis is on the offender’s development. This results in the possibility that juvenile sanctions, in which education, treatment and rehabilitation are central, can be applied to young adult offenders. It is unknown, however, whether there is a relationship between the developmental focus of adolescent criminal law and the rehabilitation of young adult offenders. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine whether juvenile sanctions are efficacious in rehabilitating young adult offenders. A quasi-experimental design was used with judicial observational data. From a total of young adults (n = 671) sentenced with juvenile sanctions and young adults (n = 7.221) sentenced with adult sanctions different subsamples were composed. The subsamples were based on distinct starting conditions: (1) young adults engaged in education or employment, (2) young adults without education, income or on unemployment benefits, (3) young adults living independently, and (4) young adults living with parents or institutionalized. Rehabilitation was operationalized as changes or stability in education/employment status and housing conditions two years after the sanction was imposed. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to assess the associations. Results: Young adults who were engaged in education or employment before their conviction were more likely to maintain this status after a juvenile sanction (OR = 1.43, p < 0.05) than after an adult sanction. Young adults who were not engaged in education or employment had a lower chance (OR = 0.677, p < 0.05) of improving their status after a juvenile sanction than after an adult sanction. No significant differences were found for housing conditions. By focusing on maintaining existing engagement in education and employment, juvenile sanctions align with the developmental needs of young adults and promote stability in their transition to mature societal roles. This study highlights the importance of reinforcing existing prosocial bonds and providing adequate support for those needing to establish new prosocial bonds.

Abstract: The Sociomoral Reflection Measure – Short Form Objective (SRM-SFO) aims to assess the reasoning and valuing components of moral judgment. A new index for measuring moral reasoning is introduced. The first study assessed construct validity by examining the structure and invariance of moral reasoning and moral value evaluation in community adolescents and adults from The Netherlands ( N = 1,583). Factor analyses supported the unidimensionality of both components. Measurement invariance was found across age groups, gender, and educational levels. Convergent validity was supported by positive relationships between moral reasoning and age in males and between moral reasoning and higher educational levels. Divergent validity was supported by the weak relationship of both components with social desirability and their negative relationship with self-centered orientation and self-reported antisocial/delinquent behavior. The second study included incarcerated juvenile delinquents ( N = 246). Measurement invariance was found for both components across delinquency groups. Furthermore, community participants reporting no antisocial/delinquent behavior showed higher levels on both components than community participants reporting antisocial/delinquent behavior and juvenile delinquents. The SRM-SFO provides acceptable to good psychometric properties for assessing the reasoning and valuing components of moral judgment. Its practical benefits support its use in large-scale research from young adolescence onward.

Objectives In the Netherlands, adolescent criminal law makes it is possible to sentence young adult offenders with juvenile sanctions. This study examines the effectiveness of juvenile sanctions for young adults on recidivism. Methods A quasi-experimental design with judicial observational data and matched control groups was used. The effects were tested for a composition of juvenile sanctions and a subsample with unconditional juvenile detention. Cox survival analyses and negative binomial regression analyses were used to examine the effects of juvenile sanctions on recidivism. Results Young adults sentenced with a composition of juvenile sanctions have a significantly higher chance of (serious) recidivism for both prevalence and frequency compared to young adults sentenced with adult sanctions. For young adults in juvenile or adult detention, the chance of recidivism and recidivism frequencies are comparable. Conclusion This study underlines the importance of adhering to what works principles during the implementation of a significant policy measure.

Since 2014 it has been possible to apply juvenile criminal law to young adults aged from 18 up to and including 22 years old in the Netherlands. This policy change is referred to as the Adolescent Criminal Law (ACL). According to the theory behind ACL, providing special treatment within the juvenile justice system to young adults during their transition into adulthood could reduce recidivism. In order to determine the relevance and impact of ACL regarding the application of juvenile sanctions to young adults, in this study a ‘Recently Introduced Policy instrument’ (RIPI) evaluation was conducted. The results suggest that applying juvenile justice sanctions to young adults could offer opportunities to cut short criminal careers and reduce crime amongst young adults. In addition, we found that the proportion of juvenile sanctions applied to young adults has increased despite the overall crime drop amongst young adults. Implications of our findings are discussed.

Since 2007, juvenile crime in the Netherlands has dropped. Changes in exposure or vulnerability to risk and protective factors could offer an explanation for this drop. Data from three cohorts of the Youth Delinquency Survey (2005, 2010, and 2015; n = 4,855) were used. ANOVAs were conducted to measure differences between cohorts in exposure to risk and protective factors. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to measure differences between cohorts in vulnerability. Results suggest that the 2015 cohort was less exposed to risk factors - eg alcohol use and delinquent peers - and more exposed to protective factors - eg perceived parental emotional support and monitoring - compared to previous cohorts. Serious delinquents showed stability across the cohorts in reported offenses. Changing social-cultural attitudes toward risk behaviors over time offer an additional explanation for the juvenile crime drop. Implications for the prevention of delinquency are discussed from the perspectives of both Preventive Science and Positive Youth Development.

This study examines similarities and differences between juvenile delinquents of self-reported cyberenabled offenses, cyber-dependent offenses, and offline offenses. The study builds on past studies by examining a broad range of online and offline offenses among a national probability sample of Dutch juveniles aged 12-17 years old. Results show that juveniles who report both offline and online offenses have the most high-risk profile. Within the group online delinquents, juveniles who commit both cyber-dependent and cyber-enabled offenses have the highest risk profile. The results further indicate that cyber-dependent delinquents are a distinct group from online delinquents. ________________________________________________________________________

Prior research suggests that playing videogames can have a voluntary incapacitating effect on criminal behaviour. The current study investigates whether this negative association between videogames in general and crime rates can also be found for the release of a single videogame – Grand Theft Auto V (GTAV) – and for registered juvenile crime in the Netherlands. A diminishing effect was modelled to estimate the active player base of GTAV (that is, the most players are active on and directly following release, with a decline in the weeks thereafter) and correlated with the number of registered offences in 2012–15 committed by males aged 12–18 and 18–25 years in a time series analysis. The effect of the release of GTAV was negatively associated with the number of registered offences in both age categories, while controlling for covariates (for example, day of the week). Implications are discussed.

Recent studies have shown that higher levels of moral value evaluation (i.e., the attribution of importance to moral values) are consistently correlated with less externalizing behaviour in adolescents. The current study further investigates this relationship in a community sample of adolescents (N=216, 100 males, M-AGE=15.2, SDAGE=1.3), while differentiating between value areas (i.e., clusters of affiliated values: contract, truth andaffiliation; life and property, lawandlegal justice) and between delinquent and antisocial behaviour. Higher levels of moral value evaluation for the property, lawandlegal justice area were associated with less delinquent and antisocial behaviour, while controlling for gender and age. Contrastingly, the area contract, truthand affiliation was not associated with delinquent or antisocial behaviour, and life was positively associated with antisocial behaviour. Implications for the nature of moral value evaluation and previous research are discussed.

This study investigated the relationships among oppositional defiant attitudes, moral reasoning, moral value evaluation and self-reported delinquent behaviour in adolescents (N = 351, MAGE = 13.8 years, SDAGE = 1.1). Of particular interest were the moderating effects of age, educational environment and gender on the relationship between moral reasoning and delinquency. The results indicate that oppositional defiance was a strong positive correlate of delinquent behaviour, particularly in late adolescence. Furthermore, moral reasoning was modestly and negatively related to delinquency, but only for males. No moderating effects for educational environment were observed. Moreover, moral value evaluation was uncorrelated with delinquent behaviour when controlling for other sociomoral processes. These findings invite further research on the relationship between attitudes and behaviour, with respect to causal links and practical applications within behavioural interventions.

The Sociomoral Reflection Measure—Short Form Objective (SRM-SFO), with additional items related to sexual moral issues, was applied to an incarcerated sexually abusive juvenile population. Sexually abusive youths were expected to show a lower level of moral development related to sexual issues when compared to non-offending youths, but not for non-sexual issues. The sample consisted of 24 incarcerated sexually abusive male youths and 24 non-offending male youths. Results indicated that sexually abusive youths used more pre-conventional reasoning related to sexual issues when compared to controls. No differences were found in conventional reasoning on sexual issues and non-sexual issues. In addition, no differences were found in pre-conventional reasoning on non-sexual issues, thus partly confirming the main hypothesis. It was concluded that the original form of the SRM-SFO could not assess existing moral development delays in sexually abusive youths, but can with appropriate adjustments. Additionally, the results suggest that moral development is rather flexible in relation to moral value domains.