ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the recent history of studies on child delinquency in the Netherlands addressed in policy papers, public statements and research. Before the early 1990s, child delinquency in the Netherlands was not considered a problem and received little media or policy attention. A study commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Justice greatly accelerated the examination of risk factors and young children. The most important policy development regarding children committing delinquent acts dates back to the late 1990s when in reaction to the Van Montfrans report and the outcomes of the WODC surveys, the then-State Secretary of Justice issued a memo on children and crime. The youngest age category reported being caught by an adult for a delinquent act far more often than did adolescents and young adults, but the children reported that they rarely were caught by the police.
