ABSTRACT

This chapter provides an overview of the reform and implementation of youth sanctions in four selected Nordic states: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. It sketches major historical phases in the development of the Nordic youth justice model together with a review of law reforms from the 1990s onwards. Youth justice in the Nordic countries is based on a division of labour between child protection and criminal justice. The functioning of two systems is based on fundamentally different principles. The two systems are welfare system, criminal justice system. The welfare system consists of a wide variety of open-care measures, as well as institutional interventions. Child welfare operates under the social services system. The criminal justice system makes little distinction between offenders of different ages. The chapter provides a contemporary sanctions and an analysis of sentencing trends and sentencing practices. The overview of contemporary sanctions is divided into two compartments: out-of-court measures and court-imposed sanctions.