Illegal weed cultivation is increasingly perceived as an important societal problem. Most of existing research in this area focuses on the criminal organisations active on the cannabis market and the criminal profits that are gained here. The current study however focuses on the actors at the bottom of the cannabis market – the home growers – and aims at answering the following research question: what factors influence the chance of encountering an illegal weed cultivation at a certain residential address? In this study, the risk and protecting factors are taken into consideration on both the individual level (e.g. family composition and financial position of residents) and the neighbourhood level (e.g. social cohesion, physical disorganisation, level of criminality in a certain neighbourhood). In the current study, data of 401 illegal hemp cultivation sites discovered between 2011 and 2016 in homes in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, were analysed. Data from various quantitative data sources – like municipal data (BRP and data from the Social Domain) and data from the municipal neighbourhood monitors – were combined and analysed through a multilevel logistic regression. The results suggest that the likelihood of an illegal weed cultivation site is most prominently influenced by individual factors. Being married for instance seems to decrease the risk, whereas being divorced seems to increase the risk. The housing type also turns out to be of influence. On a neighbourhood level, physical disorganisation and the presence of other hemp cultivation sites in the neighbourhood are the only predictors for hemp cultivation. The results are discussed in the light of criminological theories regarding participation in crime, using the theoretical concepts motivation, opportunity, and control.

The present article examines the financial life of 131 jihadi travellers (JTs), also known as foreign terrorist fighters, from the Netherlands. For the purpose of the research, access was acquired to all their banking transactions in the year preceding their departure: over 60,000 transactions in total. Their income from work or employment, various forms of social assistance, student grants, and other income or expenditure were examined. The data provided a good picture of their financial independence, i.e., the extent to which they were capable of making their own living or needed to claim assistance from the authorities. The analysis shows that it is highly exceptional for Dutch JTs to be financially independent. Only 5 percent have sufficient income from work or employment without making any claims on the government for financial assistance, and are free of mounting debts. The low score can for a large part be explained by the fact that almost half of the JTs are under 23 years of age and/or receive a student grant. Their financial picture largely resembles ordinary students. Older JTs (over 22 years of age, and not having received a student grant for at least one year) underperform, however. Only 9 percent are financially independent. Financial support could perhaps be used to monitor or steer recipients’ role in society.

Door het Europees Parlement en de Raad van de Europese Unie is nieuwe wetgeving aangenomen om witwassen en terrorismefinanciering te voorkomen ten aanzien van wisselplatforms voor virtuele valuta en aanbieders van bewaarportemonnees. De afspraken maken deel uit van een grotere set aan maatregelen tegen financiële criminaliteit en belastingontduiking.
In dit artikel wordt besproken in hoeverre het risico op witwassen via virtuele valuta in Nederland adequaat wordt beheerst en of de aangenomen maatregelen van de EU hiervoor voldoende zijn.

In dit artikel wordt langs wijsgerige weg de verhouding tussen tijd, identiteit en het verlenen van (sterkere) verblijfsaanspraken aan migranten onderzocht en verhelderd door een nieuwe betekenis van de term worteling voor te stellen. Want wat is worteling nu eigenlijk? Het is de relatie tussen menselijke tijd, worteling en het migratierecht die in dit artikel filosofisch wordt uitgediept. Dit om te verklaren waarom we in het migratierecht vreemdelingen in het algemeen na verloop van tijd sterkere aanspraken verlenen. In dit artikel wordt betoogd dat het verblijf van vreemdelingen op het grondgebied ervoor zorgt dat hun leven aldaar na verloop van tijd een vanzelfsprekend onderdeel uitmaakt van hun identiteit, en van het leven van anderen. Het is dit vanzelfsprekend worden van mensen door de tijd dat de grond is voor het bestaan van formele tijdscriteria voor insluiting in het migratierecht.

This article addresses the role of parents and girlfriends in the process of giving up crime. It presents findings from a longitudinal study of 81 young recidivists examined over 15 years. It concludes that parents played a pivotal role in this process, since the young men began to realize what misery they had caused them. However, these young men did not change their path in life because of their parents. We conclude even stronger than with the parents that it does not seem likely that a young recidivist would desist because of his girlfriend. Nevertheless, it would seem that both parents and a secure, lasting relationship could indeed have a positive influence in this process, particularly in the motivation to stick to a new path towards a more pro-social lifestyle once it has been set out on.

De modernisering van het Wetboek van Strafvordering zal ook het proces ter ontneming van wederrechtelijk verkregen voordeel aanpassen. Deze wetgevingsoperatie zal de ontnemingsmaatregel grotendeels ontdoen van zijn bijzondere karakter. Zo komt het strafrechtelijk financieel onderzoek te vervallen en wordt voorgesteld de oplegging van de ontnemingsmaatregel als hoofdregel in het reguliere strafproces te laten plaatsvinden. Deze bijdrage brengt in kaart welke wijzigingen worden voorgesteld en hoe die moeten worden beoordeeld. Geconcludeerd wordt dat de moderniseringsplannen kunnen worden onderschreven, maar wel nader dienen te worden doordacht.

Annotatie bij HR 13 april 2018, ECLI:NL:HR:2018:601 (Shaken baby). In dit arrest geeft de Hoge Raad uitleg aan de opzetclausule die sinds 2000 in de AVP gehanteerd wordt. Gekeken wordt naar de invloed van de geestesstoornis op de toepassing van de opzetuitsluiting en er wordt een vergelijking getrokken met het strafrecht.

Criminological literature shows that criminals involved in organized crime benefit from positive images in the media. By opening a hospital or donating funds for the development of a football field they try to present themselves in a cordial way and as good citizens to the public. Using the media to present themselves as animal lovers is a very effective manner to go for public admiration and sympathy. In this contribution is investigated how this mechanism works and why it is so effective.

In criminology, it is generally assumed that the high social status of white-collar offenders prevents them of being targeted by criminal law enforcement. But when they do, they suffer greater social and economic damage because of this high social status. Empirical research on the consequences of criminal law enforcement and conviction for white-collar offenders is scarce, and limited to the US and the UK. This paper used biographies of convicted former executives in business and public office in the Netherlands, to analyse these consequences and the process of the ‘fall from grace’ of white-collar offenders. The consequences are described in four life-domains: health, the private sphere, the occupational sphere and the social sphere. The results show that Dutch executives, in line with findings for the Anglo-American white-collar offenders, experience status degradation and suffer much collateral damage of criminal law enforcement. After the initial horror of imprisonment, they endure prison life fairly well. Individual competences and remaining social and economic capital enable them to return to normal life, although they cannot return to pre-conviction levels of social status.

In this introductory article we will discuss some of the recent developments in corporate crime research in the Netherlands and Belgium since 2008. In doing so, we will answer the following three questions: (1) What are the most important developments in the way research on corporate crime has been carried out? (2) What are key themes in corporate crime research? (3) What are the most important blind spots in research into corporate crime? We will conclude with some avenues for future research on corporate crime and its enforcement.

In this article we analyze how organized crime offenders use IT to handle their money flows. How and to what extent do offenders use IT-facilitated possibilities, such as bitcoin, to launder their money? The empirical data consist of thirty large-scale police investigations. These thirty cases are part of the Organized Crime Monitor, an ongoing research project into the nature of organized crime in the Netherlands. One of the most striking findings is the fact that cash is still king – even for online drug dealers who get paid in digital currencies.

Complexe geldstromen, irrationele prijsvorming van transfers en het ontbreken van gerichte wetgeving maken het betaald voetbal aantrekkelijk voor het witwassen van crimineel geld. Bij de belangrijkste stakeholders is het besef inmiddels doorgedrongen dat het noodzakelijk is de witwasbestrijding binnen de sector serieus aan te pakken. De preventieve toetsing van grote investeerders in clubs door de KNVB en de aanbevelingen van De Nederlandsche Bank aan banken om alert te zijn op witwasrisico’s bij voetbalklanten zijn stappen in de goede richting.
Voor een effectieve aanpak wordt gepleit voor de invoering van een periodieke integriteitstoetsing van eigenaren en leidinggevenden van betaaldvoetbalorganisaties, in combinatie met een breder screeningsinstrument, zoals is opgenomen in de Wet Bibob.

This article concerns an experiment involving three learning communities of professionals cooperating across institutional boundaries to address domestic violence cases in multiple complementary ways. Providers of social services interacted with law enforcement in a juridical context to achieve an integrated approach. This alliance indicates the potential for values-based Good Work based on safety, professional care, and compassionate treatment. Playing with time and capacity can be a strategy, and each professional can benefit from multiple viewpoints for recognising and anticipating patterns of domestic violence before it (re)occurs.
A lack of funding has suspended embedding this Good Work, slowing progress toward achieving long-term goals and making this interdisciplinary approach to assuring sustainable safety unavailable to prevent repeated outbreaks of domestic violence.

In 2017, the Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Justice & Security (WODC) published the report ‘Neuroscientific application in the juvenile criminal justice system’. This report concerns an inventory of possible neuroscientific applications in the juvenile criminal justice system. The release of the report attracted attention from well-recognized national media. The positive media attention was striking for several reasons. It indicated that –in contrast to a few decades ago – it has become more accepted to study neurobiological correlates of antisocial behavior. On the other hand, the overwhelming news value indicated that the idea that antisocial behavior is also associated with neurobiological deficts has not become common knowledge yet. Based on the WODC report, in the current article the authors summarize how neuroscientific knowledge and methods could be applied in the juvenile criminal justice system.

In dit artikel wordt een overzicht gegeven van de jurisprudentie op het gebied van het milieustrafrecht over de afgelopen vijf jaren (2013-2018). De zaken tegen Odfjell, Trafigura, Dow Benelux en Chemiepack komen aan de orde. Daarnaast wordt jurisprudentie behandeld waaruit volgt dat rechters kritisch beoordelen of het OM ontvankelijk is, of de relevante delictsbestanddelen bewezen kunnen worden, of voldaan is aan de vereisten voor daderschap en/of deelneming en of de overtreding opzettelijk is begaan. Ook worden relevante ontnemingsuitspraken gesignaleerd. De auteur sluit af met een blik op de toekomst.

In the ‘participation society’ it is expected that citizens actively contribute to solving societal problems, including health care, immigration and security issues. A somewhat similar responsibilisation culture is visible in prisons, where prisoners are held responsible for their own rehabilitation. This article problematizes the way in which prisoners’ agency is promoted in Dutch prisons, considering prisoners’ constrained agency and the normative expectations that are tied to the approach. This critique is advanced through discussion of the promotion/demotion system that has been used in Dutch prisons since 2014. This system, comparable to the Incentives and Earned Privileges system in England and Wales, espouses both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ behavioural norms. The soft behavioural norms reflect a citizenship ideal that extends beyond compliance with the law. It is argued that these normative expectations tied to agency have a limiting effect on prisoners’ autonomy. This article argues in favour of a shift from the citizenship ideal to an autonomy ideal, which applies the principle of minimum restrictions. Furthermore, access to education, reintegration courses and contact with family should be treated as a right, rather than a privilege, in order to maximise autonomy and minimise the harmful effects of imprisonment.