De toepassing van het jeugdstrafrecht bij jongvolwassenen in de praktijk

In April 2014 Adolescent Criminal Law (ACL) came into effect in the Netherlands. ACL allows more flexible use of juvenile and adult criminal law sanctions against 16 to 23-year-olds. That said, the primary focus of ACL is the use of youth sanctions against young adults from 18 to 23 years old (i.e., article 77c of the Dutch Criminal Code). Prior to ACL youth sanctions were only allowed against 18 to 21 year old young adults. Hence, there is special treatment of young adults in the Dutch criminal justice system.The objective of the current research is to review the special treatment of young adults in the criminal justice chain from the implementation of ACL throughout the year 2017. Multiple phases of the criminal justice process are examined, i.e., forensic assessment, prosecution, trial, verdict and execution. Furthermore, potential variation by judicial district is examined as well. Lastly, the situation in the field is compared to the principles of ACL as written in legislation