Samenvatting

This article describes the officially recorded criminal careers from age twelve to 22 for all boys and girls who were born in the Netherlands in 1984. Using data on police contacts (HKS) we ask: (1) What proportion of the 1984 birth cohort has a police contact between ages twelve and 22?, (2) What are the criminal career characteristics of those registered?, (3) What is the nature of the crimes these youths are registered for?, and (4) How do chronic offenders and recidivists differ from one-time offenders? We answer these questions separately for boys and girls and for youths of different ethnic origin. Ethnicity was based on the country of birth of (one of) the parents. Our results show that 23 percent of men and 5 percent of women born in 1984 had at least one police contact prior to age 23. Youths of non-Dutch origin were overrepresented in police registrations. Overrepresentation was strongest for boys of Moroccan origin: 54 percent was registered at least once, and of those registered one third were registered five times or more. Moroccan girls were also overrepresented.