Recht doen aan ouders : Een onderzoek naar de rechtspositie van ouders in de jeugdbeschermingsprocedure en de jeugdstrafprocedure

Abstract

For several years, the combined court hearing (combizitting in Dutch) has been employed in the Dutch legal system. In this type of hearing several kinds of legal cases concerning the same juvenile are examined together, for instance a juvenile protection case and a juvenile criminal case. These two types of cases have their own rules of procedure and practice, so the legal position of parents in these procedures is not the same. This leads to the question whether these legal positions of parents can be ‘combined’. In order to answer this question, it has to be clear what the exact substance is of the legal position of parents in juvenile protection proceedings and the legal position of parents in juvenile criminal proceedings. To provide clearance on this, this study focuses on the following question: Under Dutch laws and regulations, what is the legal position of parents in juvenile protection proceedings and juvenile criminal proceedings? Because of the fact that these legal positions of parents must comply with international and European human and children's rights that are binding for the Netherlands, this study also focuses on the following question: To what extent do Dutch laws and regulations with regard to the legal position of parents in juvenile protection proceedings and juvenile criminal proceedings comply with international and European human and children's rights that are binding for the Netherlands? The study provides a clear picture of the legal position of parents in juvenile protection proceedings and juvenile criminal proceedings. It demonstrates that the Dutch laws and regulations with regard to the legal position of parents in juvenile protection proceedings and juvenile criminal proceedings do not fully comply with the international and European human and children's rights. For instance, Dutch laws and regulation could offer more possibilities to involve parents in juvenile protection proceedings and juvenile criminal proceedings. According to international and European human and children's rights this involvement is necessary in order to grant parents due respect to their existing family life, respectively to contribute to an effective response to the child's criminal behaviour. The study also shows that not only the content of the legal position of parents in juvenile protection proceedings and juvenile criminal proceedings is different, but also that these legal positions concern different parents, that the ratio for these legal positions is quite different, and that the procedural relation between parents and the minor is also different. In view of these differences, it is difficult to imagine that justice can be done to the legal positions of parents in a combined court hearing.