The extent to which religious ideology appeals to potential radicals and the role it plays in their actual radicalization depends on a number of factors, such as the centrality of the religious ideology’s message in the lives of the target group, its breadth, the credibility of both the message and the messenger expressing the religious ideology, as well as its experiential commensurability in the lives of the targeted audience. Variations in each of these factors help explain why religious ideology plays an important role in the radicalization of some Muslims, but less so in that of others, and why the same religious ideology can be influential in some contexts while having little impact elsewhere. This article uses the examples of the Jordanian Salafi scholars Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi and Muhammad Ibrahim Shaqra to illustrate this and shows that religious ideology should be taken seriously as a factor in radicalization, but should also be contextualized to understand its full impact.

In the past few years, about three hundred Dutch Muslims travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the violent jihad. This article explores the phenomenon by looking into the individual characteristics and processes of these Dutch jihadis. It presents the findings of a study of the life stories of twelve of them, showing the diversity of the group. It also looks into types of jihadists and their roles in the jihadist scene using categories provided by Maher and Bjørgo. The article arrives at the somewhat unsatisfactory conclusion that there is no standard Dutch jihadist and that we need to study more individual cases and better understand what is going on within the jihadist scene in order to be able to stop people from following the path towards the violent jihad.

Recent figures indicate that certain drug markets, or at least parts of it, shift from the Netherlands to Belgium. However, it is still unclear whether it is a displacement of some parts of the illicit drug markets or whether it should be seen as a diversification of certain parts of some illicit drug markets in terms of spreading of risks and taking profit of new opportunities. In this respect, this article contributes to an ongoing research (DISMARK) by providing an overview of drug policy measures most recently taken by the Netherlands, from a Belgian point of view, and by trying to link these developments to drug-related trends in Belgium. It is clear that both countries will have to invest in a common approach of their common drug problems. However, it is not yet possible to draw any profound conclusions on the actual displacement of illicit drug markets.

Synthetic drug waste dumpings are a growing concern in the Netherlands, particularly in the southern region. During the production process of ecstasy (MDMA) and speed (amphetamine), large quantities of chemical residue are released, that the illegal manufacturers need to get rid of. According to police statistics the chemical waste is mostly dumped in barrels in rural areas, and recovered as such by authorities. However, an unknown quantity of synthetic drug waste is also directly being discharged into sewer, soil or natural surface waters. The phenomenon embodies environmental crime as well as organized crime. From the viewpoint of environmental crime, both ecological and social harm are evident. The article also illustrates the operations of serious organized crime groups behind the scenes.

Various forms of organized crime are concentrated in the Dutch province of North Brabant, bordering Belgium. In this essay it is argued that specific historic, geographic, social economic, cultural and social psychological factors created an enduring window of opportunity in which criminality can flourish. Brabant is portrayed as a marginalized province that suffered from war, exploitation by the central government, rural gangs, a lack of law enforcement, extreme poverty as well as from discrimination because of its mainly catholic population. Against this background the population developed a mentality of solving problems on their own. Their survival strategies implied not only legal activities like agriculture and small-scale production in private houses, workplaces and factories, but also smuggling and illegal alcohol production. In more recent times the production of synthetic drugs, growing cannabis and transport criminality became widespread.

This article on intergenerational transmission of crime in families is based on a study of seven families of which at least one member held a key position in an organized crime group. The authors retrieved information on at least three generations (preceding and succeeding this key member’s generation) to investigate whether transmissions occurred, and if so, how these might be explained. Throughout the generations the majority of family members indeed have criminal records. However, it seems to be less easy to transfer criminal leadership in organized crime from one generation to the next. Leading a criminal group seems to demand qualities that are not transferred easily. Successful successors appear to be able to establish their own networks within the deviant subcultures from which they stem. This also explains the persistence of criminal behavior: both men and women select their friends and partners from these closed communities and seem to prefer for their social and love relationships those who have already developed substantial criminal track records. Organized crime families in North Brabant took advantage of criminal opportunities that were presented to them over the years. Particularly XTC production, starting in the 1990s, allowed them to step up their criminal activities from the local to the global level. In addition, they may have capitalized on a moral economy with sentiments of subordination present in the province of North Brabant, dating back to the seventeenth century, which resulted in a more reserved attitude towards authorities than in other parts of the Netherlands. Finally, law enforcement agencies have been generally slow to respond to developments in criminal opportunities that benefited these seven families.

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.

Since 2008 juvenile crime rates in the Netherlands annually decreased. The decrease is shown in official police and justice crime, as well as in self-reported delinquency. However, this crime drop mainly accounts traditional offline crime, whereas little is known about cybercrime amongst juveniles and young adults. According to the Juvenile Crime Monitor, approximately 20% of juveniles and young adults report involvement in cyber or digitized delinquency. Trends with regard to cyber or digitized crime are not (yet) available. Previous research indicates that multiple factors are responsible for the crime drop amongst juveniles. These explanations mainly regard to offline factors and are primarily focused on traditional offline crime. In this article the increased use of social media is also discussed as a potential explanation.

Registered youth crime figures in the Netherlands show a spectacular downward trend from 2007 (minus 60%). In this article the authors show that this trend can be observed in a lot of other countries. They argue that a number of international developments has created a climate favorable for juvenile crime reduction: more (situational) crime prevention, less use of alcohol, more commitment to schooling, more satisfaction with living conditions, and changing activity patterns during leisure time. For the Netherlands this coincides with a diminished willingness of the Dutch police to follow up on suspicions that a youngster has committed a minor offense. The authors discuss the worldwide dissemination of smartphones and online games that started in 2006/2007, as well as the subsequent changes in the use of free time, which might have contributed to juvenile crime reduction.

More than forty organizations in security, healthcare and social services work together in the ‘Top600 Project’, aimed at those committing ‘high-impact crimes’. The goal is to improve safety in and around Amsterdam by achieving a permanent change in the behavior of these perpetrators. This includes both a reduction in recidivism of high-impact crimes and an increase in their self-reliance in order to decrease their reliance on crime. To achieve this, special case managers strive to get a clear perspective on the (often complex) lives of these Top600 persons. These managers (‘regisseurs’) can connect to all the organizations concerned and ensure that their efforts are coordinated, aligned and mutually strengthening. The project includes preventing the Top600 persons’ (younger) brothers and sisters from following their siblings on a path of crime. It works through a collective focus and a tailor-made approach for each person, by exercising control on three levels (administrative, civil, and case level), by central monitoring of the results and - from there - by resolving structural flaws in the system.

The authors discuss the effects on criminal participation of the 2007 Dutch educational reform which forced individuals between age 16 and 18 to stay in school if they had not attained startkwalificatie level. By comparing the arrest rate of individuals born just before and after the reform, the authors estimate the potential incapacitation effect of education on crime. Their results suggest that this exogenous change in education policy significantly reduced criminal participation among youths affected by the policy. The authors conclude that forcing youths most at risk of leaving school without any qualification to stay longer in education has positive immediate effects on youth crime reduction, that are beyond the potential educational benefits of such policies.

This contribution explores the hypothesis that the rise of social media use and smartphone possession since 2007 contributed substantially to the international decrease in juvenile crime. The author addresses three processes that aid in understanding how social media and smartphones may have contributed to decreasing juvenile crime statistics. First, activity patterns of young people may have been altered in such a way that substantial less time is spent with unstructured socializing in public places. Second, the rise of social media may have led to additional and alternative possibilities to fulfill psychological and social needs of adolescents, taking away many immaterial motivations for juvenile crime. Third, it is possible that social media and smartphone use have facilitated a shift from offline to online juvenile crime, which is less detected and visible in official crime figures. While these theoretical arguments make the hypothesis plausible, research is needed to provide empirical evidence on the role of social media and smartphones in juvenile crime.

Similar to the total youth crime, the share of Moroccan boys and men who are suspected of committing a crime is decreasing. The percentage of suspects among male Moroccan teens and early twenties declined with as much as 35% in the period from 2005 to 2015. However, the share of 12- to 24-year-old males with a Dutch background who were suspected of committing a crime, declined even more sharply. Therefore, the overrepresentation of Moroccans increased. The increased amount of cultural dissonance among Moroccan boys and young adults seems to be the most probable explanation for the increased overrepresentation of this group in recorded crime. Cultural dissonance is where migrants have to steer a middle course between two highly contrasting cultures, namely the culture of their country of origin (of their parents) and that of the country in which they are residing.

How to make empirical legal research successful? This article seeks to find an answer. It does so by building on experiences in the US with empirical legal research. Three themes are identified that should be considered when thinking about advancing empirical legal research in the Netherlands, and possibly in other countries. First, empirical legal research should address topics that the legal community can relate to and that are considered relevant. Second, empirical legal research should educate the legal community about the possibilities and pitfalls of empirical legal research in addition to conducting empirical legal research. Third, legal scholars should be educated in conducting empirical legal research. The combination of these three elements is likely to determine empirical legal research’s success.

The American Legal Realism movement, which originated in the beginning of the twentieth century and was active until the Fifties, can be seen as one of the founders of current Empirical Legal Studies because of the importance it attached to social scientific knowledge on behavior of – for instance – judges and others involved in the judiciary. The author sketches several characteristics of Legal Realism at that time. Exploring their range of thought he also examines whether Legal Realism’s studies can be seen as a research program. The recent emergence of New Legal Realism in the US and elsewhere leads to the question what characterizes this (re)new(al) movement. Finally it is argued that American Legal Realism especially contributed to scientific progress by posing new questions, changing focus and by stressing the importance of empirical evidence.

Empirical Legal Studies (ELS) are studies investigating the law in the real world, using empirical methods. Internationally, ELS is on the rise. However, not much is known about what is being done around ELS in the Netherlands. This article describes the results of a systematic review, investigating how many PhD researchers who defended their thesis at a Dutch law faculty in 2015 have collected empirical data, what topic they investigated, which method they used and what background they have. The findings are that 33% of the PhD theses could be labelled as ELS. The majority of ELS were conducted by researchers who have a social science degree. Some of the (only few) lawyers collecting empirical data did not aim to conduct ELS, even though their research questions were very empirical. It is concluded that more empirical education and research funding are needed to stimulate lawyers to conduct more ELS.

Findings of empirical research may have direct or indirect relevance to legal practice and policy. This article investigates the relevance of findings from both research in sociology of law and legal psychology and law for legal practice and policy. It then discusses an empirical study in the Netherlands among scholars from these two disciplines into actual use in practice of empirical findings. A distinction is made between direct and indirect application of empirical findings. Both a survey and face-to-face interviews have been conducted. Findings suggest that, although the criminal justice system and policymakers do apply empirical knowledge to a certain degree, the actual use of empirical results seems defective.

In the regulation of private law relationships, the concept of informed choice-making is an important point of departure for policymakers. As a result, professionals and traders are often under a legal duty to offer certain information to the public in order to inform, persuade or warn against dangers. Policymakers and academics alike tend to refer to findings from purely experimental studies to underpin the effects and overall effectiveness of such information duties. This contribution argues that such studies have limited value as a basis for policymaking. Moreover, it is argued here that policymakers may in fact benefit from practice-oriented research which lacks significant findings.

Neighborhood watch schemes have become increasingly popular in the Netherlands. Drawing from data from 340 municipalities and fieldwork in four districts, the article shows how neighborhood watch groups have developed in the Netherlands and illustrates how they contribute to lower crime levels and collective efficacy, advancing theoretical notions from the literature. However, this form of coproduction of public safety is not without its moral problems. Stigmatization, ethnic profiling and excessive social control are real issues.

This article summarizes the results of a study into new innovative forms of volunteer work which could possibly help the Dutch National Police to increase the number of volunteers. The empirical data were collected by a desk study, the analysis of five case studies and two focus groups. Three different themes were analyzed: mobilizing target groups, matching expectations, and formalization and institutionalization of volunteering work. Public organizations in general don’t realize enough the value of volunteers. Often there is lack of a clear vision, while more attention should go to managing expectations, customization, furthering the education of police volunteers, acceptance and support, guidance and support, recognition, appreciation and reward, and finally more room for volunteers.