The structure and development of juvenile violence in Germany: A proposition paper based on current research findings

Abstract

In 1998 the Criminological Institute of Lower Saxony (KFN) carried out three extensive quantitative studies on juvenile violence: (1) A representative survey of the violence experienced and practised by young people of ninth-grade school age (minimum age 14 years and maximum age 18 years, mostly 15-16 years old). Until April 1999 data have been collected and analysed from 12,882 respondents in the towns and cities of Kiel, Hamburg, Hanover, Stuttgart, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Leipzig, Wunstorf and Lilienthal. (2) An analysis of all files from 1990, 1993 and 1996 of the Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) in Hanover involving young persons under the age of 21 who were registered by the police as suspects for violent crimes. (3) A study of the development of crime in the same age group based on statistics kept by the police, DPPs and courts at federal and regional levels (in the Länder). This article presents and reviews the main findings of the three projects by putting forward eight certain key propositions.