Physical child abuse and social change. Judicial intervention in families in The Netherlands, 1960-1995.
OBJECTIVE
To show changes in the way juvenile judges and judicial child protection workers deal with physical child abuse in the period 1960-1995 in the Netherlands.


METHODS
The study is based on an analysis of files on adolescent and younger children placed by juvenile judges in the Dutch judicial child protection system during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.


RESULTS
The prevalence of very severe physical violence against children was lower in the recent files than in the older files. Spanking and other minor violence acts were noted more often than in the older files. In the 1960s files, the parents talked still rather openly about the physical punishments they used in child rearing. In spite of the growing attention for and increasing concern about child abuse among professionals, judicial child protection workers intervened less harshly in recent cases of physical child abuse than in the 1960s.


CONCLUSIONS
The decrease in severe physical child abuse may indicate that physical child abuse is actually becoming a less serious problem in the Dutch judicial child protection system. But that may not be the case because of the increased reluctance of parents to report and changes in intervention practices. Other than expected, the growing sensibility for child abuse did not mean more effective control by judicial child protection workers. Possible reasons for these changes are discussed, including the strengthening of the position of perpetrators in law proceedings and the emancipation of children and women in society.
Komen
Mieke
M
Department of Criminology, Willem Pompe Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology, Utrecht University, Janskerkhof 16, 3512 BM Utrecht, The Netherlands.
D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000145:classification / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000517:prevention & control; D002651:Child Advocacy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003625:Data Collection; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033222:Judicial Role; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D012922:Social Change