Prevention of antisocial behaviour and juvenile deliquency
How to understand an ethical question with theories of
justice, social recognition and identity
Kay Vermeulen | i6246365
7 February 2022
Maastricht University | Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML)
Bachelor Health Sciences | GZW2224
PhiA week 2.4
Maryn Reyneke | Group 04 BGZ
1
, 1.
Juvenile delinquency, a problem that seems to become more common these days. More often
there are reports in the news that another teenager has been involved in a crime. These crimes
often involve violence. This is not just a problem that only occurs in other countries. But also
in the Netherlands we are increasingly confronted with violent crimes committed by a
‘’child’’. Just like RTL Nieuws (2022) mentioned only two weeks ago, that the number of
young people involved in stabbings, sharply rose from 395 in 2017 to 695 in 2020. A small
decrease was seen in 2021, but so far a shocking 640 incidents took place. This is an average
of almost two a day.
Juvenile criminologist Jeroen van den Broek mentions that threatening with knives is a
hype among young people. For example real firearms and knives are used in videoclips of so-
called ‘drill-rappers’, who sing about violent life on the streets. In addition van den Broek
mentions that this hype appears to have been taken over from England (Berkelder, 2019).
These kind of video clips are accessible to everyone on YouTube, also for young children
who are in their spiritual development. The problem that builds on this is that some young
viewers are intellectually less-developed, what probably makes them think that these kind of
activities are ordinary and though.
Thomas & Penn (2002) support this statement by mentioning that ‘’The modern
juvenile justice system is marked by a significantly higher volume of cases, with increasingly
complicated multiproblem youths and families with comorbid medical, psychiatric, substance
abuse disorders, multiple family and psychosocial adversities, and shrinking community
resources and alternatives to confinement’’. These young perpetrators who suffer from mental
disorders need right treatments, which are often very complex because visiting certain
specialists needs to incorporate in their preadolescence where seeing friends and going to
school is of great importance for maturing. However prevention appears to be a better method
than punishment afterwards, as a treatment for juvenile delinquency (Horstkötter et al., 2014).
For example, children who are diagnosed at an early stage with behavioral disorders such as
ADHD could be sent to therapy earlier, so they can deal with this during their class time.
Programs such as the ‘Perry School Project’ aims to examine how teaching prosocial
values in early childhood can reduce the incidence of first time juvenile delinquency (May et
al., 2014). Programs like these are adequate and also fit within an upbringing because the
child in question does not immediately get clear words in which it is told that it is ‘different’.
In addition, when a program like this is given to an entire class it is more likely to prevent the
labeling and stigmatization of children who go to therapy individually. Which, on the
2
How to understand an ethical question with theories of
justice, social recognition and identity
Kay Vermeulen | i6246365
7 February 2022
Maastricht University | Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML)
Bachelor Health Sciences | GZW2224
PhiA week 2.4
Maryn Reyneke | Group 04 BGZ
1
, 1.
Juvenile delinquency, a problem that seems to become more common these days. More often
there are reports in the news that another teenager has been involved in a crime. These crimes
often involve violence. This is not just a problem that only occurs in other countries. But also
in the Netherlands we are increasingly confronted with violent crimes committed by a
‘’child’’. Just like RTL Nieuws (2022) mentioned only two weeks ago, that the number of
young people involved in stabbings, sharply rose from 395 in 2017 to 695 in 2020. A small
decrease was seen in 2021, but so far a shocking 640 incidents took place. This is an average
of almost two a day.
Juvenile criminologist Jeroen van den Broek mentions that threatening with knives is a
hype among young people. For example real firearms and knives are used in videoclips of so-
called ‘drill-rappers’, who sing about violent life on the streets. In addition van den Broek
mentions that this hype appears to have been taken over from England (Berkelder, 2019).
These kind of video clips are accessible to everyone on YouTube, also for young children
who are in their spiritual development. The problem that builds on this is that some young
viewers are intellectually less-developed, what probably makes them think that these kind of
activities are ordinary and though.
Thomas & Penn (2002) support this statement by mentioning that ‘’The modern
juvenile justice system is marked by a significantly higher volume of cases, with increasingly
complicated multiproblem youths and families with comorbid medical, psychiatric, substance
abuse disorders, multiple family and psychosocial adversities, and shrinking community
resources and alternatives to confinement’’. These young perpetrators who suffer from mental
disorders need right treatments, which are often very complex because visiting certain
specialists needs to incorporate in their preadolescence where seeing friends and going to
school is of great importance for maturing. However prevention appears to be a better method
than punishment afterwards, as a treatment for juvenile delinquency (Horstkötter et al., 2014).
For example, children who are diagnosed at an early stage with behavioral disorders such as
ADHD could be sent to therapy earlier, so they can deal with this during their class time.
Programs such as the ‘Perry School Project’ aims to examine how teaching prosocial
values in early childhood can reduce the incidence of first time juvenile delinquency (May et
al., 2014). Programs like these are adequate and also fit within an upbringing because the
child in question does not immediately get clear words in which it is told that it is ‘different’.
In addition, when a program like this is given to an entire class it is more likely to prevent the
labeling and stigmatization of children who go to therapy individually. Which, on the
2
