9 December 2004

AMSTERDAM — Research indicating high involvement by minorities in a sample study of group rape and sex offences committed by teens in the Netherlands was "not surprising" given the findings of studies conducted into other crimes, it was claimed on Thursday.

The Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement said earlier this week that an estimated 200 teens are registered with justice authorities each year for a group sex offence. This is a third of the total number of youth sex cases registered each year.

The Leiden-based institute said the number of group rapes could be much higher. Many crimes go unreported — becoming 'dark numbers' — and others frequently end in acquittal.

Researcher Catrien Bijleveld said the "sizeable" number of cases gave reason for further research into the phenomenon. She also told Expatica that this was the first study of its kind.
 
Bijleveld said she would not express concern about the study's findings and she
also refused to draw conclusions on the fact that two-thirds of the 91 offenders studied — comprising 24 group offences committed between 1993 and 2001 — were from ethnic minority backgrounds. Excluding one male victim, all victims were female, of which 75 percent were native Dutch.

When the report was published last week, many Dutch news organisations highlighted that a high proportion of teens from a minority background were involved in the crimes.

Asked whether the ethnic composition of the group studied was comparative to that of the total number of group sex offenders, Bijleveld said she could not give an accurate estimate. The same applied to the ethnic background of victims because there is limited data available on victims.

She said the research sample was too small to draw conclusions based on ethnicity, pointing out that the cases were spread out over eight years. Also, researchers studied the "heaviest" crimes because culprits underwent a personality test for use in a criminal trial.

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