Umgang mit Jugenddelinquenz

For the German Juvenile Delinquency Court Association (Deutsche Vereinigung für Jugendgerichte und Jugendgerichtshilfen e.V.), which comprises researchers and practitioners in the field alike, the Lower Saxony Crime Research Institute (Kriminologisches Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen e.V.), one of the most important institutions in Germany, in 1998 has compiled a detailed study ?Exclusion, Violence and Delinquency in the Life of young people — children and adolescents as victims and perpetrators“, comprising an extensive review of the literature with extensive own research results. The study takes a politically clear position: juvenile delinquency declines in quantity and intensity. Contradictory findings are based on statistical bias. Consequently, the policy of decriminalization — putting educational before correctional measures — has to be vigorously continued. The study displays a wealth of statistical material — and a wealth of serious, sometimes unforgivable methodological mistakes. At several occasions the authors explicitly dump unwanted findings. The considerable discrepancies between the main text body and the executive summary for the hurried reader further undermines confidence in the professionalism of the authors.