Migration, Socio-Economic Status, and Juvenile Sanctions: Assessing Cumulative Disadvantage in the Dutch Criminal Justice System

• In Event: Cumulative (Dis)advantage, (Dis)trust, and Sanctioning Disparities 1: Insights from Europe and the United States

Abstract

Sanctioning disparities is a prominent area of research in criminal justice. Yet, past studies on juveniles have typically examined either ethnicity, socio-economic status, or were focused on a single or separate stages of the justice chain. This paper investigates the role of migration and socio-economic backgrounds in case processing and sanctioning disparities for first-time juvenile offenders in the full chain of the Dutch criminal justice system. We estimate the sanctioning disparities of juveniles during all main stages of the criminal justice chain: police, public prosecution, and courts. We utilize rich and unique administrative data of the Netherlands on crime and different personal characteristics of juveniles aged 12-17 who were registered by the police as suspects between 2010 and 2022. By investigating whether the having a migration or low socio-economic status increases suspects’ likelihood of moving over the different stages of the juvenile system, we test the cumulative disadvantage hypothesis that disparities accumulate through the system. In support of this hypothesis, preliminary results indicate that second-generation migrants have an increasing probability to proceed in the criminal justice chain and to receive harsher punishment compared to their native counterparts.

Authors

• Dmitrii Shchetinin, Erasmus University Rotterdam

• Petra de Jong, Erasmus University Rotterdam

• Arjen Leerkes, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Maastricht University