Ambulant Sanctions for Juvenile Delinquents

In the early 1980s, the efficiency of the sanctions traditionally imposed by the juvenile justice system was called into question. Supported by criminological research on juvenile delinquency, there was a steady increase in the popularity of diversion on the one hand, and socio-educational approaches on the other. A wide range of so-called "ambulant sanctions €ť such as community service, social-competence training courses, and the educational support of social workers were increasingly introduced into practice. The main purpose of these explicitly educational measures in cases of juvenile delinquency that had reached the court level was to reduce the frequency of juvenile prison sentences. However, not only have doubts been raised as to whether changes in juvenile court outcomes can realistically be expected, various forms of educational "training €ť have as yet proceeded without any kind of coordination. No systematic information is available on the conceptions, contents, purposes, or effects of the various programs. This study aimed to collate information about the projects established in Lower Saxony and to gauge the attitudes of social workers, juvenile court assistants, prosecutors, and judges. Results indicate that there is room for improvement in the standards, conceptual clearness and transparency of ambulant sanctions, in the level of cooperation between the various actors, and  " last, but not least  " in the acceptance of these "alternative sanctions €ť among judges and prosecutors.