MPs back curfew for young troublemakers

Wednesday 08 April 2009

Mayors are to be allowed to impose a curfew on children under the age of 12 who hang around on the streets at night causing trouble, news agency ANP reports on Wednesday.

MPs voted in favour of giving mayors the extra powers on Tuesday.

Rotterdam's former mayor Ivo Opstelten began imposing curfews on young troublemakers last year. That experiment, based on children from 11 families, led to fewer complaints, the city council says. The families involved were also given extra help by social workers.

Utrecht has also experimented with evening curfews.

Family assessment

Meanwhile, in the west of Amsterdam, the parents of young teenagers caught causing trouble are being ordered to report to police stations to have their home situation analysed, the Volkskrant reports.

The justice ministry and city council have set aside €2.5m for the experiment, which will run for two years.

The aim of the experiment is to allow officials to intervene and help the family as soon as a child appears to be going off the rails, the paper says.

© DutchNews.nl

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