Identiteitsontvreemding door het jeugdstrafrecht
This article examines the origins and practical significance of ‘identity dispossession’ in juvenile criminal law: the experience of young people whose portrayal in juvenile court proceedings does not match how they see themselves. The legislative history of juvenile justice reveals four causes. First, children are increasingly treated as information problems, assessed by numerous experts. Second, advisors must create coherent accounts of children, despite the fact that children are complex and constantly changing. Third, these advisors are expected to predict future behavior, which is inherently uncertain. Finally, they rely on imperfect classification systems shaped by selective political use of expert knowledge. Together, these dynamics produce ‘repressive reductionism’.