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Youth and Justice in Western States, 1815-1950 pp 279–310Cite as

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Girls’ Journeys to the Juvenile Court, Antwerp, 1912–1933

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Part of the book series: World Histories of Crime, Culture and Violence ((WHCCV))

Abstract

This chapter presents the findings of a qualitative study of girl criminality in the Belgian city of Antwerp, 1912–1933, and seeks to shed light on the journeys of girls to the Antwerp Juvenile Court. The analysis does not take the court as the starting point, but rather the young female offenders themselves. This makes it possible to combine the study of illegal behaviour (offences and perpetrators) with that of the processes of criminalisation (the social reaction to crime). At the same time, this perspective allows one to learn more about two wider questions: (i) the interactions between informal and formal control systems; and (ii) the tensions between discourses on crime and punishment and practices of lawbreaking and prosecution.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Wolcott D., Cops and Kids: Policing Juvenile Delinquency in Urban America, 1890–1940, Columbus, Ohio State University Press, 2005, pp. 1–8.

  2. 2.

    This article is based on my Ph.D. research: De Koster M., Weerbaar, weerspannig of crimineel? Meisjes en jonge vrouwen tussen emancipatie en delinquentie tijdens de eerste helft van de twintigste eeuw, unpub. Ph.D. thesis, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 2003. See also De Koster M., Massin V., ‘Delinquente en problematische meisjes in de molen van de jeugdbescherming, 1912–1965’, Panopticon: Tijdschrift voor strafrecht, criminologie en forensisch welzijnswerk, 33, 2012, 5, pp. 437–453.

  3. 3.

    Although there are several studies that constitute an exception to this, it can generally be noted that a certain divide persists between these two main approaches within much criminological and historical research on crime and punishment. For observations in this matter, see, for example Pires A.P., ‘La criminologie et ses objets paradoxaux: réflections épistémologiques sur un nouveau paradigme’, Déviance et Société, 17, 1993, 2, pp. 129–161; Innes J., Styles J., ‘The crime wave: recent writing on crime and criminal justice in eighteenth-century England’, in Wilson A. (ed.), Rethinking Social History. English Society, 1570–1920, and its Interpretation, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1993, pp. 201–265; Schwerhoff G., Aktenkundig und gerichtsnotorisch. Einführung in die Historische Kriminalitätsforschung, Tübingen, Edition Diskord, 1999, pp. 69–83.

  4. 4.

    The most sophisticated and path-breaking work is that of sociologist and criminologist Pat Carlen. See, for example Carlen P. (ed.), Criminal Women. Autobiographical Accounts, Cambridge, Polity Press, 1985.

  5. 5.

    For references to criminological research on this topic see, for example Hoyt S., Scherer D.G., ‘Female Juvenile Delinquency: Misunderstood by the Juvenile Justice System, Neglected by Social Science’, Law and Human Behavior, 22, 1998, 1, pp. 81–105. For historical evidence see, for example, Kermode J., Walker G. (eds.), Women, Crime and the Courts in Early Modern England, London, UCL Press, 1994; Cox P., Gender, Justice and Welfare: Bad Girls in Britain, 1900–1950, Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2003.

  6. 6.

    Articles 27 and 31 of the Belgium Child Protection Act of 1912: Pasinomie: collection complète des lois, arrêtés et règlements généraux qui peuvent être invoqués en Belgique, Brussels, 1912, nr. 252, p. 249.

  7. 7.

    Individual court files, Juvenile Court of Antwerp, State Archives Beveren (Belgium), Archiefblok EA Antwerpen D, Dossiers van rechtspleging. Our sample includes the following files (female and male juveniles): October 1912–October 1913: nrs. 1–575, folders 1–73 (390 of these files relate to revisions of ‘old’ cases of juveniles convicted before the establishment of the juvenile courts by the Child Protection Act of 1912 and were not analysed); June 1924–June 1925: nrs. 2876–3104, folders 410–436; May 1932–May 1933: nrs. 4357–4476, folders 599–614.

  8. 8.

    In this respect, see the critical remarks of feminist historian Joan Scott: Scott J., ‘Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis’, in Scott J. (ed), Feminism and History. Oxford Readings in Feminism. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 156; 165–167.

  9. 9.

    We sincerely thank Xavier Rousseaux for providing us with an electronic version of these Judicial Statistics for the period 1912–1940; this has considerably facilitated the processing of the data.

  10. 10.

    For the prosecution of prostitution during the war in Brussels, see Majerus B., ‘La prostitution à Bruxelles pendant la Grande Guerre: contrôle et pratique’, Crime, Histoire & Sociétés / Crime, History and Societies, 7, 2003, 1, p. 5–42.

  11. 11.

    The juges de paix, who formed the lowest level of the court system and whose task was to mete out a justice of conciliation and arbitration, were established in 1790 in France (Laws of 16 and 24 August), and subsequently introduced in Belgium under the French rule on 2 Frimaire, Year IV (23 November 1795). Within their cantons, they were empowered chiefly to administer justice in minor cases, and hear minor civil matters and petty criminal cases; they dealt with family quarrels, minor litigation between local inhabitants, and small felonies. In the latter case, they operated as juges de paix de police and presided over a police court. From October 1921 on, the juges de paix de police gained first degree authority over cases of school absenteeism. Between 1931 and 1940, a yearly average of 4605 parents were brought before the police courts for breaches of the Belgium law on compulsory schooling (1914). An average of 904 were acquitted. The others were fined or underwent short-term imprisonment: Velle K., Het vredegerecht en de politierechtbank (1795–1995). Organisatie, bevoegdheden en archiefvorming, Algemeen Rijksarchief (General State Archives), Brussels, 1995, pp. 74–75; 141–143; 254–259; Wets P. ‘Rapport de M. le juge Wets à l’assembée des juges des enfants du 21 janvier 1922’, Bulletin de l’Office pour la protection de l’enfance, 1922, p. 340.

  12. 12.

    Statistiques judiciaires de la Belgique, Statistiques de la protection de l’enfance, heading: ‘Mineurs jugés. Résultats des poursuites en rapport avec les faits commis’, 1922–1940 (overall figures for Belgium).

  13. 13.

    Statistiques judiciaires de la Belgique, Statistiques de la protection de l’enfance, heading: ‘Mineurs jugés. Nature des faits commis’, 1913–1916 and 1919–1920 (Brussels); 1913–1933 (Belgium).

  14. 14.

    The history of the state prosecutor’s office in Belgium (Ministère public / Openbaar Ministerie) remains to be written. There is, however, the extremely valuable criminological research on its discharge practices since 1836, that shows how the Public Prosecutor’s office acquired a key-role in judicial practice: Janssen C., Vervaele J., Le ministère public et la politique de classement sans suite, Brussels, Bruylant, 1990.

  15. 15.

    This specialisation of the parquet was laid down in article 12 of the Child Protection Act: Pasinomie, 1912, nr. 252, p. 251.

  16. 16.

    This has been observed with respect to the ‘juvenile’ parquet of Brussels by Racine A., Les enfants traduits en justice. Étude d’après trois cents dossiers du tribunal pour enfants de l’arrondissement de Bruxelles, Liège, Thône, 1935, pp. 15–16.

  17. 17.

    Ibid.: 15.

  18. 18.

    Velle K., ‘Instellingen, normen en procedures met betrekking tot crimineel wangedrag van jongeren in België, in de periode 1795–1950: bronnen en mogelijkheden voor verder onderzoek’, in Lis C. & Soly H. (eds.), Tussen dader en slachtoffer. Jongeren en criminaliteit in historisch perspectief, Brussels, VUB Press, 2001, p. 257.

  19. 19.

    Statistiques judiciaires de la Belgique, Statistiques de la protection de l’enfance, heading: ‘Mineurs dont les parquets ont eu à s’occuper; suites données aux affaires par le parquet’, 1913–1930.

  20. 20.

    Statistiques judiciaires de la Belgique, Statistiques de la protection de l’enfance, heading: ‘Mineurs dont les parquets ont eu à s’occuper; suites données aux affaires par le parquet’, 1913–1916; 1919–1920.

  21. 21.

    Racine A., op.cit., pp. 43; 79.

  22. 22.

    Individual court files, Juvenile Court of Antwerp, State Archives Beveren (Belgium), Archiefblok EA Antwerpen D, Dossiers van rechtspleging, June 1924–June 1925: nrs. 3014, 3033, 3036; May 1932–May 1933: nr. 4382.

  23. 23.

    Oct. 1912–Oct.1913: nrs. 44, 51, 315; June 1924–June 1925: nr. 2996; May 1932–May 1933: nr. 4400.

  24. 24.

    See note 8 for the identification of this series of individual case files of the Antwerp juvenile court.

  25. 25.

    Sohn A.-M., Chrysalides. Femmes dans la vie privée (XIXe-XXe siècles), Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 1996, volume I, pp. 232–244.

  26. 26.

    State Archives Beveren, Archiefblok EA Antwerpen D, Dossiers van rechtspleging, Oct. 1912–Oct.1913: nrs. 315, 412; June 1924–June 1925: nrs. 2903, 2939, 3033; May 1932–May 1933: nrs. 4367, 4414, 4467.

  27. 27.

    In this respect, see also the fascinating essay by Jackson L., ‘The child’s word in court: cases of sexual abuse in London, 1870–1914’, in Arnot M.L., Usborne C. (eds.), Gender and crime in modern Europe, London, UCL Press, pp. 222–237.

  28. 28.

    Classical works are, for example Black D.J. & Reiss A.J., Jr., ‘Police Control of Juveniles’, American Sociological Review, 35, 1970, 1, pp. 63–77; Bottomley K. & Coleman C., Understanding Crime Rates. Police and Public Roles in the Production of Official Statistics, Farnborough, Gower, 1981. For Belgium, see Enhus E., & Eliaerts C., Politie en bevolking. Vragen staat vrij… De politionele afhandeling van vragen uit de bevolking, Bruges, Vanden Broele, 1992.

  29. 29.

    Although the dependence of criminal justice on extra-legal supply—or: the considerable role played by private individuals, both victims and third parties, in policing, prosecution and adjudication - has been noted by historians, it has scarcely been seriously analysed for the 19th and early 20th centuries. The following studies make an exception to this: Davis J., Law-Breaking and Law Enforcement: The Creation of a Criminal Class in Mid-Victorian London, unpublished doctoral thesis, Boston College, 1985, Chap. 5; Mellaerts W., ‘Criminal justice in Provincial England, France and Netherlands, c. 1880–1905: some Comparative Perspectives’, Crime, Histoire & Sociétés / Crime, History & Societies, 4, 2000, 2, pp. 19–52; and for Belgium, Le Clercq G. ‘La perception des violences sexuelles en Belgique (1830–1867): construction juridique, pratique répressive et réactions sociales’, in Kurgan-van Hentenryk G. (ed.), Un pays si tranquille. La violence en Belgique au XIXe siècle, Brussels, Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles, 1999, pp. 107–129.

  30. 30.

    This special vice squad was established within the Antwerp local police force in 1913. In 1910, the whole local police force counted 835 members, which made Antwerp one of the most densely-policed large towns in the country: De Koster M., ‘Routines et contraintes de la police urbaine à Anvers, 1890–1914’, in J.-M. Berlière, C. Denys, D. Kalifa & V. Milliot (eds.), Etre policier: Les métiers de police en Europe, XVIIIe - XXe siècle, Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2008, pp. 345–362.

  31. 31.

    The Belgian historiography lacks a social and cultural history of working-class youth in the first half of the 20th century. I have attempted to gather some information about the life, work and leisure of young women drawing on information and testimonies from the court files of ‘delinquent’ girls: De Koster M., ‘Los van God, gezin en natie. Problematisering en criminalisering van ongeoorloofde seks van jonge vrouwen in de vroege 20ste eeuw’, in J. Kok & J. Van Bavel (eds.), De levenskracht der bevolking: Sociale en demografische kwesties in de Lage Landen tijdens het interbellum, Leuven, Universitaire Pers Leuven, 2010, pp. 355–384. See also Fowler D., The First Teenagers. The Lifestyle of Young Wage-earners in interwar Britain, London / Portland (Oregon), Woburn Press, 1995; Comacchio C., ‘Dancing to Perdition: Adolescence and Leisure in Interwar English Canada’, Journal of Canadian Studies, 32, 1997, 3, pp. 5–35.

  32. 32.

    De Koster M., ‘Los van God, gezin en natie’. Op.cit., pp. 355–362. For the specific debates on juvenile prostitution, see Collard C., ‘La prostitution des mineures et l’application de la loi sur la protection de l’enfance’, Bulletin de l’Office de la Protection de l’Enfance, 13, 1920, pp. 22–64; Nokerman V., La prostitution enfantine en Belgique (1880–1914), unpublished master thesis, Université Catholique de Louvain, 1994.

  33. 33.

    Articles 13 and 15 of the 1912 Child Protection Act. On the interpretation of these articles in judicial practice, see De Koster M., ‘Los van God, gezin en natie’. Op.cit., pp. 363–382.

  34. 34.

    De Koster M., ‘Routines et contraintes de la police urbaine à Anvers’, pp. 350–353. This has also been noted by other historians, for example Boritch H., The Making of Toronto the Good: The Organization of Policing and Production of Arrests, 1859 to 1955, unpub. Ph.D. thesis, University of Toronto, 1985, pp. 135; 266–267; 331–350; Williams C.A., ‘Counting crimes or counting people: some implications of mid-nineteenth century British police returns’, Crime, Histoire & Sociétés / Crime, History & Society, 4, 2000, 2, pp. 77–93; Vogel M., ‘Police et espace urbain: Grenoble 1880–1930’, Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine, 50–1, Jan–March 2003, pp. 126–144.

  35. 35.

    Perrot M., ‘La jeunesse ouvrière: de l’atelier à l’usine’, in Levi G. & Schmitt J.-C. (eds.), Histoire des jeunes en Occident. L’époque contemporaine, Paris, Seuil, 1996, vol. 2, pp. 124–125.

  36. 36.

    De Koster M., ‘Tot maat van het recht. De vroege ontwikkeling van de wetenschap van het ontspoorde en criminele kind in het Centrale Observatiegesticht in Mol (1913–1941)’, in N. Bakker, S. Braster, M. Rietveld-van Wingerden, A. Van Gorp (eds.), Kinderen in gevaar. De geschiedenis van pedagogische zorg voor risicojeugd, Assen, Van Gorcum, 2007, pp. 94–119.

  37. 37.

    On such practices of selective enforcement and geographical ‘containment’ in Belgium, see De Koster M., ‘Routines et contraintes de la police urbaine à Anvers’, pp. 358–361. For the specific policing of ‘vice’, see Slater S.A., ‘Containment: Managing Street Prostitution in London, 1918–1959’, Journal of British Studies, 49, 2010, pp. 332–357; Bretas M.L., ‘The sovereign’s vigilant eye? Daily policing and women in Rio de Janeiro, 1907–1930’, Crime, Histoire & Sociétés / Crime, History & Societies, 2, 1998, 2, pp. 58; 68–70. On the daily functioning of vice squads (zedenpolitie), see Keunings L., ‘Du garde ville à l’agent de police. Les débuts de la professionnalisation en Belgique (1880–1914)’, L’officier de police, 1988, pp. 1–96 for Belgium, and Berlière J.-M., La police des moeurs sous la IIIe République, Paris, Seuil, 1992 for France.

  38. 38.

    De Koster M., ‘Over ongeregelde dochters en klagende ouders. De kinderrechtbank van Antwerpen, 1912–1913’, in Lis C. & Soly H. (eds.), Tussen dader en slachtoffer. Jongeren en criminaliteit in historisch perspectief, Brussels, VUB Press, 2001, pp. 337–369. Similar parent-daughter conflicts have been observed for the United States by Odem M.E., Delinquent Daughters. Protecting and Policing Adolescent Female Sexuality in the United States, 1885–1920, Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press, 1995, Chap. 6; Sangster J., Regulating Girls and Women. Sexuality, Family, and the Law in Ontario, 1920–1960, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2001, Chap. 5.

  39. 39.

    Sohn A.-M, op.cit., pp. 395–401. See also Davies A., Fielding S. (eds), Workers’ worlds. Cultures and communities in Manchester and Salford, 1880–1939, Manchester / New York, Manchester University Press, 1992.

  40. 40.

    De Regt A., Geld en gezin. Financiële en emotionele relaties tussen gezinsleden, Amsterdam, Boom, 1993, pp. 53; 56–62.

  41. 41.

    See the remarks made with respect to confinement of ‘disorderly’ youngsters on request of their families in 18th-century Belgium by Lis C. & Soly H., Disordered Lives: Eighteenth-Century Families and their Unruly Relatives, London, Polity Press, 1996, concluding chapter.

  42. 42.

    The same kinds of conflicts between the interests and goals of parents requesting incarceration of ‘unruly’ daughters and decisions of juvenile judges have been observed for the United States by Odem M.E., op.cit., Chap. 6.

  43. 43.

    See Davis J., op.cit., Chap. 5; Mellaerts W., ‘Criminal justice in Provincial England, France and Netherlands, c. 1880–1905: some Comparative Perspectives’, Crime, Histoire & Sociétés / Crime, History & Societies, 4, 2000, pp. 21–29; 46.

  44. 44.

    The necessity and usefulness of an adequate contextualisation of thieving has been demonstrated by Mac Kay L., ‘Why they stole: women in the Old Bailey, 1779–1789, Journal of Social History, 32, 1999, pp. 623–639.

  45. 45.

    Piette V., Domestiques et servantes. Des vies sous condition. Essai sur le travail domestique en Belgique au 19e siècle, Brussels, Académie royale de Belgique, 2000; Perrot M., ‘La jeunesse ouvrière: de l’atelier à l’usine’, in Levi G. & Schmitt J.-C. (eds.), Histoire des jeunes en Occident. L’époque contemporaine, Paris, Seuil, 1996, vol. 2, pp. 87–142.

  46. 46.

    Juvenile petty theft as a part of family survival strategies has been illustrated by Christiaens J., ‘Jeugdcriminaliteit: een apart probleem? Negentiende-eeuwse jonge daders en hun misdrijven’, in Lis C. & Soly H. (eds.), Tussen dader en slachtoffer. Jongeren en criminaliteit in historisch perspectief, Brussels, VUB Press, 2001, pp. 277–298; and Humphries S., ‘Steal to Survive: the Social Crime of Working class Children, 1890–1940’, Oral History Journal, 9, 1981, 1, pp. 24–33.

  47. 47.

    In this respect, see the observations made by King P., ‘Female offenders, work and life-cycle change in late-eighteenth-century London’, Continuity and Change, 11, 1996, 1, pp. 61–90.

  48. 48.

    Several historians have made the observation that in spite of the stipulations of criminal procedure, Police Commissioners and Inspectors exercised a measure of discretion in referring reported offences to the parquet. One could state that the Belgium Child Protection Act of 1912 extended this discretion even further. After its enactment, the police did not even have to establish whether an act was criminal or not when dealing with juvenile offenders; their decision to forward a case to the parquet could be based solely on their own perception and evaluation of the family circumstances of the juvenile offender and his or her need for ‘protection’.

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  1. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussel, Belgium

    Margo De Koster

  2. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Margo De Koster

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  1. University of Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Jean Trépanier

  2. Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Xavier Rousseaux

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De Koster, M. (2018). Girls’ Journeys to the Juvenile Court, Antwerp, 1912–1933. In: Trépanier, J., Rousseaux, X. (eds) Youth and Justice in Western States, 1815-1950. World Histories of Crime, Culture and Violence. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66245-9_10

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