Samenvatting

One of the areas the WODC has been strongly connected with over the past fifty years is biocriminology. The development of biocriminology in the Netherlands has had a turbulent history with ups and downs. It is described how in the past fifty years, biocriminology in the Netherlands has developed from a no-go area into a thriving area with many lines of investigation. However, research that explicitly focuses on interaction effects between biological and social factors using appropriate methods is still relatively scarce. Yet, this is seen internationally as an important area of growth because it could contribute significantly to criminological theory as well as to prevention and intervention in practice. The WODC could well contribute to such research in the future because of its unique data position and its biocriminological expertise.