Genoprettende ret i det danske Ungdomskriminalitetsnævn?

AbstractThis article is the second of two published in this journal examining the restorative aspect of the Danish Youth Crime Boards. The boards were launched on 1 January 2019 as part of new legislation aimed at combating and preventing youth offending. They focus on offenders aged 10 to 17, with those aged 10 to 14 legally considered below the age of criminal responsibility. The legislative framework recommends that, where possible, the boards’ verdicts should have a restorative character and align with the principles of restorative justice. This article examines the boards’ potential to serve as a restorative factor in the lives of young offenders – a desire cited in the previous article as having been expressed by board members and management. Additionally, new results are presented indicating that nearly one-third of the children and young people whose cases were handled by the Youth Crime Boards had been registered as victims in cases that occurred prior to their referral to the boards as offenders. This underscores the importance of a restorative approach that considers the context of a young person’s life beyond the immediate referral case. The restorative potential of the Danish Youth Crime Boards’ practice is examined through observations of board meetings, interviews with board members and management, and analyses of board decisions. Overall, I argue that the framework and practices of the boards create obstacles to the involvement of the children, young offenders and their guardians. Given this, a process within the Youth Crime Boards cannot generally be expected to play a restorative role in the lives of those they serve. The findings are compared with Norwegian practices of restorative reactions to children’s and young people’s offences, which I argue is an appropriate source of inspiration if the Danish Youth Crime Boards are to develop their practice in a more restorative direction. While the board management seems open to such a development, the legal framework presents certain obstacles in this regard.