Dutch Criminal Record Screening in Light of International Children’s Rights Standards

Abstract

Children in conflict with the law are considered to be in need of particular care. Children’s rights standards, therefore, explicitly encourage consideration of the child’s best interests and respect for the child’s privacy. More specifically, they encourage the promotion of the child’s dignity, worth, reintegration and social participation, and the avoidance of processes of stigmatisation. Accordingly, these principles should be taken into account when applying measures that limit young offenders in their fundamental rights beyond their sentence. This chapter explores how a childhood criminal record can result in collateral consequences after conviction in the Dutch labour market. In particular, it examines the Dutch system of storing criminal record information and using this information for pre-employment screening. The relevant law, policy guidelines and case law will then be evaluated using international children’s rights standards. Alongside this, findings from qualitative, empirical research are discussed that depict the impact of having a criminal record on juveniles ’ and young adults’ processes of re-entry, particularly into the Dutch labour market. The question this chapter thus aims to answer is to what extent the special position of juveniles, according to international children’s rights standards, is respected when restricting access both to employment and to education based on a juvenile criminal record. Lastly, this chapter suggests how children’s rights standards could be better upheld in applying collateral consequences, ensuring that due consideration is given to the child’s best interests.