The primary goal of this article is to survey the various criminological study programmes in the Netherlands and Flanders and of the jobs students attain after graduating in criminology. The theoretical question posed is to what extent the enormous expansion of criminology over the last decade has contributed to the scientific development of criminology as a discipline and to better-informed crime policies. Though the answer to this question remains limited to an ‘it depends on how you look at it’ position, the author is not pessimistic. Taking into account the current grim penal climate and the fact that the criminologist is a relative newcomer on the Dutch labour market, the positions criminology students have been able to gain – with jobs within the police force, in research and policy-development as prime fields – give reason to be hopeful, if reflexivity and overview remain the primary educational goals and practical skills training is not seen as the ‘trick box’ for the ‘quick fix’ of the safety problem.

Fifty years ago Tijdschrift voor Criminologie, the Dutch Journal for Criminology, appeared for the first time. It has now developed into a peer reviewed journal with quantitative and qualitative research of high quality. Youth and life course criminology, research into organised and organisational crime, criminographical research, and research into violence are strongly represented nowadays. Changes in the journal reflect more general developments in criminology in the Netherlands and Belgium. In the last 10-15 years the discipline has become more internationally oriented and professional, and scientific backgrounds of criminologists have become more diverse.

This article sets the stage for the discussion on the role of legal professionals – lawyers and magistrates – in restorative practices. A common task they have is controlling the respect of fundamental rights of the participants in restorative justice practices. How important this task is, will vary according to different variables such as the goals of restorative justice programs and their position towards the criminal justice system. Lauwaert goes on to sketch in separate parts the possible roles of respectively magistrates and lawyers before, during and after mediation or conferences. She refers to the European legislative framework which foresees an important role for magistrates as gatekeepers and assessors of restorative outcomes and explores the strengths and problems these roles evoke. She refers to her own research to explore the attitudes of magistrates towards restorative practices. Concerning the role of lawyers, the European legislative framework is quite vague, and the article tries to analyse more in depth the possibilities and obstacles for lawyers to contribute to the quality of mediation. The lack of knowledge of and acquaintance with the world of restorative justice and mediation is detected as a serious obstacle for further development of this field of action.

The literature on using Social Network Analysis (SNA) in criminological research is expanding. The SNA perspective already changed the way we look at organized crime. More often organized crime is referred to as changeable social networks instead of hierarchical structured organizations like the Italian or American mafia. In this respect, SNA seems to lack behind in empirical research on organized crime. Mainly, this is due to the lack of suitable network data on organized crime. For obvious reasons, commonly used methods of gathering network data – such as questionnaires – are less suitable for research on organized crime. Suspects of organized crime have not much to gain from talking about their ‘comrades in crime’. Alternative data need to be explored. Wiretaps from criminal investigations are one such source. In this contribution the SNA perspective is used to present an overview of the possibilities and limitations of using wiretaps for SNA. It follows that wiretaps from criminal investigations should be regarded as ego-centered network data. Therefore, research questions and objective for both criminal investigations as well as scientific research should be directed to the personal networks of suspects instead of the network as a whole.

In een redactioneel artikel geeft de redactie een toelichting op het tijdschriftnummer in kwestie.

The social network approach is gaining influence among criminologists studying organized crime and terrorism. The theoretical concept, however, still needs further elaboration. To this end, concepts developed within the field of economic sociology could provide a substantial contribution. Economic sociologists have, among other things, focused on the role of social networks with regard to the completion of economic transactions. They regard mutual trust built through personal relations as an essential part of economic transactions, particularly if these imply certain risks for the parties involved. In other words, before transactions materialize, the parties must first be able to establish trustworthy personal relations. Based on these ideas, Spapens introduced in 2006 the theoretical concept of the criminal macro network, being a social network consisting of individuals able and willing to engage in illegal activities. The capital of each member of the criminal network consists, on the one hand, of his links, defined as information relations, within the network. On the other hand, a person’s position is determined by personal knowledge and skills. It is assumed that executing an actual illegal activity – e.g. drug production, trafficking human beings, bank robbery – requires cooperation between a subset of members of the criminal network, the criminal group.An extensive study of xtc production in the south of the Netherlands between 1996 and 2004 revealed the existence of a ‘xtc network’ consisting of individuals interconnected by social relations. The macro network proved to be relatively stable over time. The composition of the criminal groups, however, changed regularly. This was not only explained by shifting business opportunities, but also by the efforts of the police and the Public Prosecution Service leading to convictions and the dismantling of criminal groups. Better knowledge of the functioning of the criminal macro network can provide valuable contributions to criminological understanding of organized crime. These insights are of course also of great practical importance for law enforcement agencies.

This interview with Jeremy Waldron covers three topics. Firstly, we dealt with the methodology debate, that is, the discussion about how to proceed in analyzing the nature of law. Does the question ‘What is law?’ require a descriptive analysis of the concept of law or, rather, a normative exercise in political philosophy? Secondly, we spoke about the role of law in response to historic injustice, especially in relation to the restitution of property rights. On this topic Waldron vindicates the ‘supersession-thesis’, the idea that, due to changed circumstances and the passage of time, historic injustices become superseded. The third section of the interview is devoted to Waldron’s perspective on the citation of foreign law by national judges.

In Western languages those affected by crime are universally labelled as the sacrificed ones. This label is inspired by the suffering of Jesus Christ and evokes images of helplessness and meekness. It acts as hidden justification for the marginal, self-effacing role of victims in criminal procedure and restorative justice. The author argues for deconstruction of the stereotypical victim label and the creation of more space in criminal procedure for victims as autonomous parties. In his view the recent innovation in Dutch law of a limited Victim Impact Statement still gives victims insufficient voice. He also argues for a reconceptualisation of restorative justice practices as a supplement to the criminal trial rather than as a substitute.

Inzicht in de rechterlijke straftoemetingsbeslissing is belangrijk voor de verdachte en de legitimiteit van het strafsysteem. Er is veel aandacht voor verbetering van de schriftelijke strafmotivering, maar niet voor de mondelinge. Maakt de rechter daarin wel duidelijk waarom hij een bepaalde straf oplegt?Na observatie van 86 politierechterzaken bleken factoren zoals geslacht, leeftijd, werksituatie en recidiverisico vaak wel ter zitting besproken te worden, maar niet (of zelden) terug te komen in de mondelinge motivering van de rechter. De rechter informeert dus vaak wel naar de omstandigheden van de verdachte, maar wat hij nu uiteindelijk met deze informatie doet, blijft onduidelijk.

This study investigates criminal trajectories of individuals involved in organised crime. It combines qualitative information from the Organized Crime Monitor with rap sheets extracted from the Dutch Judicial Documentation System. A semi-parametric group model is used to cluster 854 individuals into groups with similar developmental trajectories, preceding the organised crime index case. Four judicial trajectories are identified: an early starters group with a high peak in late adolescence (11 percent); a persistent group of offenders with crimes from early adolescence until adulthood (30 percent); a unique group of adult onset offenders (40 percent); and a group of offenders without judicial contacts prior to the index case (19 percent). Largely, suspects who fulfilled different roles in criminal groups (leaders, coordinators, lower-level suspects) are equally distributed over the trajectory groups and the same applies to different types of criminal activities.

This article reviews Dutch literature on collateral effects of incarceration on various life circumstances: psychological and physical health; social-economic status; well-being of partners of (ex-)prisoners; and well-being of children of (ex-)prisoners. Dutch research is predominantly descriptive and examines life circumstances of the prisoners and their family members during or just after imprisonment. Additionally, almost all Dutch studies, aiming to investigate the causal effects of incarceration on life circumstances, are characterised by methodological shortcomings, such as a lack of a longitudinal design or control groups. Therefore, it is still difficult to draw conclusions on the causal effects of imprisonment on life trajectory.