Pathways of transferred juvenile delinquents: A qualitative study about the consequences of transfer on criminal justice pathways into young adulthood.

In Belgium juvenile offenders under the age of 18 usually appear in the Youth Court. By exception, however, the juvenile can be tried according to the rules of penal law, either in Criminal Court or in the 'Extended Youth Court'. This mechanism is called 'transfer', 'waiver' or 'referral'. Several studies in the USA demonstrated that transferred offenders are more likely to recidivate, and at a higher rate, and more likely to be rearrested for more serious offences than juveniles retained in the juvenile justice system.
Previous Belgian research showed that within a follow-up period of 4 to 6 years, at least half of the transferred youngsters relapsed into crime. In order to gain insight in the question whether these high recidivism rates are caused by intrinsic characteristics of the population, and/or by the impact of the transfer decision, a follow-up research is conducted. In this contribution we will discuss the methods of this follow-up analysis and critically reflect on them, possibly we will discuss some preliminary findings.