Policing youth in urban public space in historical and comparative perspective, early 20^th-century – present

Beginning in October 2012, this post-doctoral research project builds on earlier historical-criminological work by Margo De Koster on everyday urban policing, police-youth relationships and transgressive uses of urban public space in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Taking the city of Antwerp as a case study, drawing on various judicial and police archival records, and comparing the results with literature on other major European cities, this earlier research showed that juvenile disorderly behaviour and leisure activities in urban public space were a major focus of official concern already in the early 20^th century and that youths were thereby increasingly subjected to “early intervention” preventive policies. The practice of the policing of youth on the streets, however, appeared to be highly informal, also involving parents, families, local communities on the one hand, and highly selective on the other, with very specific target groups and zones subject to police attention and intervention. The current project aims to further extend the scope by expanding the research to the post-WW II period, by integrating new source material for Brussels, and by linking up its results with those of other ongoing projects in the VUB team (CRiS) on policing, youth and the regulation of urban space today, engaging in a reflection on major parallels and shifts between past and present. Central questions are for example: How did the post-WW II creation of specialised police units for juveniles transform (or not) the everyday police control of juveniles in the city? How did/does the police define “juvenile misbehaviour”? How did/does the handling of “disorderly juveniles” fit (or not) with other police priorities and strategies of regulating urban space? Which was/is the police focus in terms of target groups and specific zones? How were/are citizens involved in this police control? How did/do juveniles react to it?

Since October 2012, Margo De Koster’s work has focused on two aspects:
1) the preparation of an article in an international peer-reviewed journal which synthetises the above mentioned results of earlier research on the policing of youth in urban space in the early 20^th century, constituting the starting point for this new project;
2) the quest for additional source material for Brussels, in particular for police records: this is done via new archival research in the Brussels City Archives, and of the records of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Brussels, which are currently being opened up and inventoried by the State archives partner within this new IAP project P7/22.