Jubileumcongres van de European Association for Forensic Child and Adolescent
Thank you, Professor Doreleijers, for your word of welcome and for this initiative. I greatly admire your groundbreaking work in the field of young offenders with psychiatric disorders.
Ladies and gentlemen,
A warm welcome to you all, experts from many countries. The organisation has put together a wonderful programme. There will be workshops, parallel sessions and a number of exceptional keynote speakers plus a variety of exciting external activities. Yesterday, you began the congress with drinks in the Oude Kerk; tonight there is a concert buffet in the Rode Hoed and tomorrow a dinner in Jamie Oliver’s restaurant, Fifteen.
We are here in the building of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. A university that has earned its stripes. As well our prime minister, Jan-Peter Balkenende, as both deputy prime ministers Wouter Bos and André Rouvoet (minister for Youth and Family Affairs) graduated from this university. So it is a more than fitting academic environment for this conference, in honour of the tenth anniversary of Efcap.
The academic angle appeals to me because the discussion about youth and crime can become quite emotional, also here in the Netherlands. While, in my view, the only way to address the issue is through a rational, scientific approach. Here, we should look also at our international neighbours to see what we can learn from each other.
The Dutch government attaches great importance to the welfare of young people. They must be able to grow up in safety, find a niche in society, and make a contribution. This requires us to take a firm line against juvenile crime. But, equally as important, we must prepare young people for the social role they will play in adult life.
Recent publications confirm that a large number of young people in the Netherlands are suffering from psychiatric problems. This is true of almost all the inmates of young offenders’ institutions. I would be surprised if the numbers in other countries weren’t just as high. Which underlines the fact that we can learn a great deal from each other and should work in close collaboration to effectively deal with this issue.
To make the Netherlands a safer place and to reduce juvenile crime, this cabinet is investing heavily in cutting back recidivism. The number of young people who reoffend is too high. Within 2 years of receiving a sentence or leaving a young offenders’ institution, about 40% re-offend; 8 years on and this rises to 60%.
The juvenile crime action programme aims to reduce this by 10%. Experts such as yourselves will understand that this is an ambitious objective, but not unrealistic.
The programme is based on taking a personal approach which is tailored to the situation of the young person. If a juvenile slides into a life of crime, many factors are at play: the environment, family, culture, schooling and, not least, mental factors. If we are serious about changing young people’s behaviour, we will often need to take action on each of these areas.
To do so, we follow factual data wherever possible, making use of methods proven to be effective. As the Ministry of Justice, we also make considerable investments in research. We are developing a set of instruments for diagnosis and risk analysis that can be put to wide use. We ensure that our behavioural measures satisfy the What Works criteria. We research young people’s perceptions of detention, and its effects. And we also test out alternative forms of punishment in pilot projects.
By far the majority of young people (some 60%) spend only a few weeks in a young offenders’ institution. Within that short time there is little we can do to alter their behaviour. This is why we consider effective after-care and supervision of young people’s return to society, so important.
This calls for good cooperation with the juvenile probation service, the healthcare sector, education and social organisations which regularly consult in network and trajectory meetings. Chain partners pool their information and make agreements on what the after-care should offer.
With the introduction of a Dutch act to modify juvenile offender behaviour, the Wet gedragsbeïnvloeding jeugdigen, the judge can now impose behavioural sanctions. Now, juvenile offenders can be required to follow intensive supervision and to take part in a behaviour programme. What’s more, if the young offender fails to comply, he or she will be punished anyhow. Experience has shown that a degree of compulsion certainly gives young people an incentive to follow a programme.
However, it’s often not enough to simply focus on the young people. The family itself needs support to function better. A range of therapies have been developed for this, such as Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC), an intensive programme to monitor young people in foster families. While the Multisystem Therapy (MST) provides support for the adolescent and his or her family within the family. Functional Family Therapy (FFT) is intended for young people exhibiting a wide range of anti-social behaviour from violence to alcohol abuse, from hyperactivity to a host of other behavioural disturbances.
The approach concentrates on reducing risk factors and reinforcing protective factors. And, as we all know, this primarily translates into a stable home situation, a job or school and a constructive use of leisure time.
In the case of mental illness, a diagnosis must be made as early as possible and, if possible, treatment given. If treatment fails to ease the situation, it will need to be managed: circumstances must be created to enable the individual to cope with a combination of medication, supervision and support. But when management is out of the question, a young offender will need to be treated in an institution or in a healthcare facility. In the Netherlands, the judge can decide to place young offenders who have committed serious crimes in a young offenders’ institution. He will be advised in this regard by behavioural experts. Treatment in a secure mental healthcare setting is also possible. It’s really important to prevent that young people with sincere problems end up in the wrong place and won’t get the treatment they need.
All these measures require the availability of good psychiatric care. And psychiatrists must be able to share their expertise across sectors with a view to each other’s interests, caring for the young offenders and the safety of society.
In the Netherlands we have a chronic shortage of juvenile psychiatrists. The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and the sector are making strenuous efforts to redress this imbalance. I recently saw statistics showing that demand and supply would not be in balance until 2019. This means that many young people will continue to go without the care they need for quite some time. We are working to remedy this. I am very interested to see how you, as professionals, deal with this, and to hear about your experiences abroad.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Juvenile crime is a problem affecting all European countries. It is a difficult issue to tackle. Parents and governments seems to be at a loss. The issue sets sparks flying, and rightly so: after all, this is our future. In the Netherlands we firmly believe in the importance of good after-care and the sound treatment of psychiatric problems. We won’t get very far with sanctions and enforcement only. We also need to help our young people to move forward in this complicated society of ours.
This congress is a chance to learn from each other’s knowledge and experience. The world is becoming smaller, the EU is becoming larger. How do you, in other countries, deal with juvenile offenders and psychiatric problems? Have other responses to clinical disorders proven successful? Have other methods been effective?
If I look at the programme, what strikes me is that the research presented rarely ventures over national borders. While international research can probably contribute to enhancing knowledge and experience. The Netherlands has assisted Hungary, the Ukraine, Latvia and Bulgaria with programmes to bring about behavioural change in young people. What else can our European governments do to encourage international research?
In the Netherlands, we are eager to learn about policies and methods used abroad: about different types of young offenders’ institutions and the varied treatments for behavioural problems,
Ladies and gentlemen,
You are about to enjoy several fascinating, instructive days. Many of the topics I mentioned will be dealt with in the contributions from the key-note speakers and in the parallel sessions. My ministerial team will keep a close eye on developments, and will report back to me in detail later.
I wish you all a fruitful conference and hope that, when you have a free moment, you will take the opportunity to enjoy all that Amsterdam has to offer. And there’s a lot to enjoy! You can take it from me!
Thank you for listening.