Original Article Reflections on Norway’s juvenile justice model: A comparative context John Winterdyk a, * , Georgios A. Antonopoulos b and Ray Corrado c a Department of Economics, Justice Studies and Political Science, Mount Royal University, Town 4825 Mount Royal Gate S.W., Calgary, AB, Canada T3E 6K6 E-mail: jwinterdyk@mtroyal.ca b School of Social Sciences, Business and Law, Teesside University, Middlesbrough TS1 3BA, UK E-mail: g.antonopoulos@tees.ac.uk c School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6 E-mail: corrado@sfu.ca *Corresponding author. Abstract Juvenile delinquency and its relationship to the complex contemporary challenges that confront (certain) young people remain an enigma for many national juvenile justice systems (JJS). One exception to this global trend is Norway, which has experienced low levels of youth crime even though it processes youth within the adult criminal justice system at age 15. With few such exceptions, most industrialised liberal democratic countries have utilised a variety of distinctive JJS separate from their adult criminal justice systems. In this article, the ‘Norwegian model’ is examined to assess whether it is theoretically unique to Norway and, if so, why. The broader political, social and economic contexts appear essential in explaining the success of a JJS embedded in the adult criminal justice system. The article concludes with several policy observations. Crime Prevention and Community Safety (2016) 18, 105–121. doi:10.1057/cpcs.2016.3 Keywords: juvenile justice; comparative juvenile justice; juvenile justice models; delinquency; Norway Introduction I nternationally, youth-at-risk face the same types of problems and/or challenges in different contexts throughout the globe including unem- ployment and socio-political exclusion, unequal distribution of wealth, © 2016 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1460-3780 Crime Prevention and Community Safety Vol. 18, 2, 105–121 www.palgrave-journals.com/cpcs/