Definition
Youth violence generally refers to any socially disapproved violent behavior of young people (children and juveniles) under 18 years old. A narrow definition equates it to violent crime in a legal sense (e.g., aggravated assault or robbery), whereas a broader criminological approach includes misdemeanors or misbehaviors (e.g., bullying, minor assaults, carrying of weapons). Trends of youth violence are routinely studied on the basis of official police statistics which have, however, many problematic aspects, and additional information from victim surveys or from self-report studies is needed for a deeper understanding of (the extent of) the problem. This entry discusses trends of youth violence in five European countries, namely, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Russia, and Slovenia.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Aebi, M. F. (2004). Crime trends in Western Europe from 1990 to 2000. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 10, 163–186.
Commissioner for Human Rights. (2009). Children and corporal punishment: “The right not to be hit, also a children’s right” (Issue Paper 2009). Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe. Retrieved March 6, 2013, from https://wcd.coe.int/com.instranet.InstraServlet?Index=no&command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&InstranetImage=1370686&SecMode=1&DocId=1206996&Usage=2
Enzmann, D., & Podana, Z. (2010). Official crime statistics and survey data: Comparing trends of youth violence between 2000 and 2006 in cities of the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Russia, and Slovenia. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 16, 191–205.
Enzmann, D. (2012). Social responses to offending. In J. Junger-Tas, I. H. Marshall, D. Enzmann, M. Killias, M. Steketee, & B. Gruszczynska (Eds.), The many faces of youth crime (pp. 143–182). New York: Springer.
Estrada, F. (1999). Juvenile crime trends in post-war Europe. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 7, 23–42.
Gershoff, E. T., & Bitensky, S. H. (2007). The case against corporal punishment of children: Converging evidence from social science research and international human rights law and implications for U.S. public policy. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 13, 231–272.
Gruszczynska, B. (2004). Crime in Central and Eastern European countries in the enlarged Europe. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 10, 123–136.
Junger-Tas, J., Terlouw, G.-J., & Klein, M. W. (Eds.). (1994). Delinquent behaviour among young people in the Western World: First results of the International Self-Report Delinquency Study. Amsterdam: Kugler.
Junger-Tas, J., & Marshall, I. H. (1999). The self-report methodology in crime research. Crime and Justice, 25, 291–367.
Junger-Tas, J., Marshall, I. H., Enzmann, D., Killias, M., Steketee, M., & Gruszczynska, B. (Eds.). (2010). Juvenile delinquency in Europe and beyond: Results of the second international self-report delinquency study (ISRD2). New York: Springer.
Junger-Tas, J., Marshall, I. H., Enzmann, D., Killias, M., Steketee, M., & Gruszczynska, B. (Eds.). (2012). The many faces of youth crime: Contrasting theoretical perspectives on juvenile delinquency across countries and cultures. New York: Springer.
Kääriäinen, J. T. (2007). Trust in the police in 16 European countries: A multilevel analysis. European Journal of Criminology, 4, 409–435.
Killias, M., Aebi, M. F., Aromaa, K., de Cavarlay, B. A., Barclay, G., Gruszczyńska, et al. (2006). European sourcebook of crime and criminal justice statistics – 2006 (3rd ed.). The Hague: WODC. Retrieved March 6, 2013, from http://www.europeansourcebook.org
Killias, M., Aebi, M. F., de Cavarlay, B. A., Barclay, G., Gruszczyńska, B., Harrendorf, S., et al. (2010). European sourcebook of crime and criminal justice statistics – 2010 (4th ed.). The Hague: WODC. Retrieved March 6, 2013, from http://www.europeansourcebook.org
Krug, E. G., Dahlberg, L. L., Mercy, J. A., Zwi, A. B., & Lozano, R. (2002). World report on violence and health. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization. Retrieved March 6, 2013, from www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en
Pfeiffer, C. (2003). Juvenile crime and violence in Europe. In M. Tonry (Ed.), Crime and justice. A review of research (Vol. 23, pp. 255–328). Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Thornberry, T. P., & Krohn, M. D. (2000). The self-report method for measuring delinquency and crime. Criminal Justice, 4, 33–83.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Podaná, Z., Enzmann, D. (2014). Trends of Youth Violence in Five European Countries. In: Michalos, A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_4209
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_4209
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-0752-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-0753-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law