Samenvatting

Juvenile defendants have the right to be heard and to participate during proceedings before the juvenile court. For participation to be effective, five steps elaborated by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child need to be taken into account: the preparation for the hearing, the hearing itself, the assessment of the capacity of the minor, the feedback to the minor, and the possibility to lodge a complaint or an appeal. Based on qualitative interviews with professionals and minors, this article examines the five steps in Flemish practice. The results show a variety of experiences and practices concerning participation due to a lack of regulation. As a result, effective participation now strongly depends on the will and competence of individual professionals.