Summary
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This chapter compares juvenile justice systems of several Western European countries. Five different means of dealing with young people who commit offenses can be identified in the European Union: a pure welfare approach; a welfare approach with some exceptions for penal interventions; a specific system of juvenile penal law; penal intervention with exceptions for educative concerns; and a purely retributive system. The chapter compares juvenile justice systems in four areas: (1) the age categories to which the countries' judicial intervention applies; (2) the agencies imposing coercive measures to minor delinquents; (3) possible special procedures for prosecuting minor delinquents, with special attention for educational concerns; and (4) specific educative or punitive measures taken against minors who committed an offense. The chapter compares the three basic models of reacting to juvenile crime: retributive, rehabilitative and restorative. It also explores restorative justice as a fully fledged juridical approach; discusses the prospects of restorative justice for juveniles; and describes two basic schemes of restorative justice: mediation and community service. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Refrence Service, www.ncjrs.org.
