The number of underage suspects increased for the first time since 2009 last year. This concerns an increase to more than eighteen thousand people, according to provisional figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on Friday. That is a thousand more than the year before.
The increase comes after the number of underage suspects had halved in ten years, according to Statistics Netherlands.
One in ten of all suspects in 2019 were not yet adults. The eighteen thousand boys and girls were suspected of committing a total of 31,000 crimes. Three in ten had previously been identified as suspects by the police.
Statistics Netherlands reports that the minors who were first suspected of a crime in 2019 were on average older than those who came into contact with the police in the past ten years. The crime was also less severe on average than in previous years.
Nearly 60 percent of last year’s minor suspects are suspected of a property crime. In addition, one in five is suspected of vandalism and crimes against public order. Almost as many minors are suspected of violent crimes.
Most of the crimes occurred in large cities. 20 percent of the minors lived in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam or The Hague. Especially in the capital, it often happens that a suspect is younger than eighteen.
Distribution of registered minor suspects 2019
- Property crimes: 57.3 percent
- Destruction and crimes against public order: 21.7 percent
- Violent crimes: 19.8 percent
- Firearm crimes: 6.3 percent
- Drug crimes: 5 percent
- Traffic crimes: 4.7 percent
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