Fewer problematic youth groups in the Netherlands
The number of groups that cause nuisance, irritation and crime in the Netherlands is decreasing all the time. At the end of last year there were still 623 problematic youth groups in the Netherlands, which is a decrease of more than 18 percent compared to 2013 Since 2009 the number has been decreasing every year, when there were 1,760 problematic youth groups. This is shown by the figures that were announced today by Minister Van der Steur of Security and Justice in a letter to Parliament.
Tacking youth crime and youth nuisance is a priority of the government. For this purpose a distinction has been made between annoying, nuisance-causing and criminal youth groups. In all categories the decrease that started in 2009 also continued in the past year. The number of irritating youth groups decreased by 20 percent compared to 2013, the number of nuisance-causing youth groups by 11 percent, the number of criminal youth groups by 27 percent.
The success of tacking youth crime and youth nuisance was in particular the result of the good cooperation between municipalities, the police, the Public Prosecution Service, schools, school attendance officers, housing associations and care providers.
They jointly focus on a combination of administrative and care interventions and interventions under criminal law. This approach is successful, as the figures show.
| Annoying | Nuisance-causing | Criminal | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 1.341 | 327 | 92 | 1.760 |
| 2010 | 1.154 | 284 | 89 | 1.527 |
| 2011 | 878 | 222 | 65 | 1.165 |
| 2012 | 731 | 186 | 59 | 976 |
| 2013 | 536 | 183 | 45 | 764 |
| 2014 | 427 | 163 | 33 | 623 |