At the request of the government of the Netherlands, researchers studied trends in juvenile crime and violence in member states of the European Union. Trends in Juvenile Violence in European Countries discusses the study, which was organized around two key issues: patterns and changes in juvenile crime--in particular, such violent crimes as robbery, assault, rape, and homicide--as recorded by law enforcement bodies in several European Union countries and the state of knowledge and research about the causes of juvenile crime and violence. Comparing the data on juvenile crime rates was challenging because most of the countries used different ways to define "juvenile," define "violent crimes," classify crimes, and measure crime rates. Therefore, the researchers generally restricted themselves to comparing trends based on police figures of arrests and convictions. In every country studied, the rate of juvenile violence rose sharply in the mid-1980s or early 1990s. In some countries, the official figures increased between 50 and 100 percent.