Violations
Statistics Netherlands | CBS
Source published: 26 September 25
More than a third fewer young people referred to Halt in ten years
In the past ten years, the number of young people referred to Halt has decreased by more than a third.
In 2024, about half of the Halt youth came into contact with Halt after committing a crime, the other half after committing an offense. Most received a Halt intervention for a school attendance violation or a property crime. This is fewer than ten years ago. Since 2021, slightly more young people have been receiving a Halt intervention for a fireworks offense or crime, or a school attendance violation.
Young people in vocational education (vmbo) most often receive a Halt intervention (3.3 thousand), followed by young people in secondary vocational education (mbo) (2.8 thousand) and pre-university education (havo/vwo) (2.3 thousand). In proportion, most Halt youth are in special secondary education, followed by practical education and vocational education. Young people in havo or vwo are less often referred to Halt. This pattern has hardly changed in recent years.
Boys receive a Halt intervention more often than girls; three-quarters of the Halt youth in 2024 are boys. This has been the same for many years. Also, among all police-recorded crimes by young people, three-quarters of the suspects are boys.
Especially 15-year-olds receive a Halt intervention, both among boys and girls. There were also 570 children aged 12 referred to Halt, 400 fewer than ten years earlier.
The Brabant municipalities of Tilburg, ’s-Hertogenbosch, Breda, and Eindhoven have relatively the most young residents with a Halt intervention. Leiden also has relatively many Halt youth. Ede and Zwolle have relatively few Halt youth. Utrecht has the fewest Halt youth (63 per 10 thousand) of the four major cities.
