Dissertation Yannick van den Brink awarded FJR Prize 2018
Dr. Yannick van den Brink’s PhD thesis, titled ‘Pre-trial detention in the Dutch juvenile justice system’, has been awarded the FJR Prize 2018.
The FJR Prize is awarded by the Dutch Society of Family and Child Law (‘FJR’) for the best scientific publication by a young researcher (age <35) in the field of family and child law.
The independent jury substantiated its decision as follows:
“Yannick van den Brink's PhD thesis is special and original, particularly because of the empirical part, in which he collected a wealth of information about the pre-trial detention of juvenile suspects, through observations at courts and interviews with relevant professionals. Moreover, he has approached the subject not only from a practical perspective, but also from a fundamental perspective – i.e. an international human rights and children’s rights perspective – which adds depth to the research.
His concrete recommendations have meanwhile been picked up politically, as they sparked questions in Parliament and an official response from Minister Dekker (Legal Protection). With this, his dissertation demonstrably has the societal impact it deserves. After all, the reason for starting the research had been concerns about the use of pre-trial detention of juvenile suspects in the Netherlands. Van den Brink clearly analyses the problems with the current system and convincingly presents a new alternative model for pre-trial detention. This seems to be very valuable for practitioners and for future developments, particularly for the legislator.”
Exceptionally, this year’s FJR prize was awarded to two researchers. Dr. Evelien van Wijk-Verhagen’s dissertation (UU) on the use of the principle of ‘reasonableness and fairness’ by family courts was a joint recipient of the prize. According to the jury, both dissertations were excellent and impossible to compare; “they both deserve to win”.
It is not the first time Dr. Van den Brink has won the FJR Prize. Previously, his journal article ‘De onschuld voorbij?’ was awarded the FJR Prize in 2012.