Research on juvenile punishment has led to changes in the law
The laws governing juvenile punishment have now been changed. The purpose is to contribute to a greater extent to getting young people out of crime and preventing new crime. Illustration photo: iStock
On September 1, a number of legislative amendments came into force, with the aim of improving the penal responses to juvenile punishment and juvenile supervision. The amendments are based on findings and recommendations from Nordland Research Institute .
Child and youth crime has recently been a hot topic in the Norwegian public. Now, a series of changes to several sections of the law, including the Criminal Code and the Conflict Council Act, will contribute to faster reactions, better cooperation, increased legal certainty and expanded opportunities for the court to use restrictive measures, according to a news release from the Conflict Council.
– Among other things, it is new that juvenile punishment can be combined with unconditional imprisonment and/or a contact ban. In addition, the court has several options if the youth violates the sentence, writes Edle Pallum, director of professional development at the Conflict Council.
– The changes are based on findings and recommendations from Nordland Research's follow-up evaluation of the reactions and experiences from the conflict councils.
Thorough research
The punitive measures "Youth Follow-up" and "Youth Punishment" were introduced in 2014, targeting young people between the ages of 15 and 18. The same year, Nordland Research Institute its follow-up evaluation of the new penalties. For four and a half years, project leaders Therese Andrews, Ann Kristin Eide and their colleagues examined the advantages and disadvantages of the new arrangements.
– Our task was to shed light on how the work with these criminal sanctions is designed and works, and whether the law is working as intended, says Andrews.
The research resulted in the report "Between help and punishment - do new punishments for youth work according to intention?", which was published in 2019. In it, the researchers propose a number of changes to punishments. The Ministry of Justice and Public Security, which received the report, took the research very seriously and proposed changes to eight different laws that affect youth punishment and youth supervision.
On September 1st of this year, the changes finally became part of Norwegian law.
Requires long-term thinking
It is not always easy to measure the effects of social science research, but in this case the significance is crystal clear.
– The fact that our research results and recommendations are an important part of the legislative changes is very gratifying and all credit to the dedicated Researchers who work long-term, as well as bureaucrats and politicians who are willing to make changes, says Iselin Marstrander, CEO of Nordland Research Institute .
– This is an area Nordland Research Institute has worked with for many years. We have built stone upon stone in projects related to punishment, punitive responses and conflict counseling, she says.
Marstrander, who is also a board member of the Research Council of Norway, believes that research on juvenile punishment and juvenile follow-up is a good example of how long it takes for social science research to have a visible effect.
– In many other sectors, the research being done will have a faster and clearer effect, especially within technical-industrial research, she says.
– Changing society requires a long-term perspective, and it is often knowledge from many environments that together influence changes in structures, working methods and policies.
