Samenvatting

Within the Province of Noord-Brabant, the ‘traveler community’ possesses a specific position, coloring the developments in crime throughout the region and being a main focus for major concern among policymakers and professionals. The authors reflect on the historical development of the ‘traveler community’ and their perceived subculture as well as on state response to these developments. Along this, the attempts of social work to contribute to social climbing of ‘travelers’ outside criminality in the 1980s and 1990s are portrayed. The contribution rounds up with some reflections on the present call for a ‘multi-agency approach’ towards organized and undermining crime in which again, and increasingly so, the importance of the so-called ‘soft side of crime prevention and repression’ is underlined.