Reforming Juvenile Justice

Josine Junger-Tas studied Sociology at the Free University of Brussels (Belgium). In 1972 she obtained her Ph.D. degree in the Netherlands at the University of Groningen with a study on "Characteristics and Social Integration of Juvenile Delinquents," which was the start of her involvement in criminology. She worked in a research centre in Brussels in the field of juvenile crime, but returned to her home country in 1975 where she was employed by the Dutch Ministry of Justice in its Research Institute. In 1979 she was appointed as special Adviser and Director of the Research Unit on Juvenile Crime. In 1989 she was appointed as Director of the Institute. Josine Junger-Tas was active in the Council of Europe. From 1984 to1989 she chaired an Expert Committee on Juvenile Delinquency which produced two reports with recommendations for member states, the first report treating "Social reactions to juvenile crime" and the second "Reactions to delinquent behaviour of young people belonging to an ethnic minority." She wrote several basic documents for the Council of Europe and in 1992 was appointed member of its Scientific Council. She was also active in the United Nations, where she also did preparatory work for the UN Criminology congresses, and served as an expert on juvenile delinquency for Central European and Middle Eastern states. In 1989 she received the Sellin-Glueck Award from the American Society of Criminology for her "Contributions to Criminology." She wrote a great number of articles and books, as well as reports for the Minister of Justice. In 1994 she was appointed professor of Youth Criminology at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. She taught self-report methodology at the University of Cambridge for 3 years and since 2002 she is a visiting professor at the University of Utrecht. She is a member of the Council for the Administration of Criminal Law and the Protection of Juveniles, an independent consultant body for the Minister of Justice, which serves as an appeal court regarding decisions taken by the complaint committees of the institutions. In 2000 the University of Lausanne awarded her an honorary doctorate. In the same year, she took the initiative - with several close colleagues - to launch the European Society of Criminology. Together with Prof. Killias, she organized the first ESC conference in Lausanne and at that occasion she was elected the first ESC President. In November 2007 she received the Distinguished International Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology.