Het geweten van jeugdige delinquenten: negeren of behandelen?

Abstract

In recent years, juvenile crime has received a lot of attention in the media and in politics, not in the least due to the fact that many offenders lack feelings of shame, guilt and compassion for the victims. In the vocabulary of the psycho-logical reports, they lack a suf?ciently developed conscience. But what exactly is a suf?ciently developed conscience and what are the treatment programs for juvenile delinquents directed at the development of conscience? Contempo-rary research shows that the development of conscience comprises the develop-ment of several distinct capacities and dispositions. On the basis of an exami-nation of the treatment programs of the institutions for juvenile delinquents, this article shows that the development of these capacities and dispositions is ignored rather than paid attention to in these programs, with the exception of the Equipprogram. In the end, however, the possibilities of the Equipprogram are also critically probed.