1 in 8 young people in certain neighborhoods risks becoming drug criminal

Up to 162,000 young people in the Netherlands are at a high risk for getting sucked into drug crime –– as many as one in eight young people in especially vulnerable areas. After analyzing figures, RTL Nieuws found that the highest-risk neighborhood is Helmond-West in Brabant, with 13.7 young people in danger of becoming drug criminals.

"Some of them can turn out fine in a few years, but a number will grow into organized crime," criminologist Robby Roks predicted to RTL Nieuws. "You can think of the cocaine trade, but also involvement in liquidations and extortion."

Young people who are especially at risk share a similar pattern: they are in debt, leave school early and are sent to Halt, an organization that prevents and punishes juvenile delinquency. And, although Rotterdam has the most when it comes to at-risk young people, these young people don't just live in the larger cities. According to the RTL Nieuws analysis, neighborhoods in Almere, Zaandam, Emmen and Weert all have high percentages of at-risk youth.

"At the moment, regular care is not sufficient to reconnect young people who display risk behavior to crime with themselves and society," said youth alderman Cathalijne Dortmans of Helmond. Therefore, Helmond has launched initiatives in its West district to target at-risk youth.

There are many overlapping factors that can put certain young people at risk of becoming drug criminals, Roks explained. "Problems with the young person, such as a mild intellectual disability, problems in the family, poverty in the neighborhood," he said. "Sometimes it starts out of sheer boredom. Some really aspire to a career in the underworld, others don't really have a plan behind it."