Internationally the term ‘violence against women’ has been coined. In the Netherlands is referred to ‘violence in relations of dependency’. GREVIO has critiqued Dutch government for their ‘gender neutral’ approach towards intimate violence, amongst other things by using the term ‘violence in relations of dependency’ instead of ‘violence against women’. This contribution offers a critical analysis of GREVIO’s point of view regarding Dutch policies on domestic violence.

The Dutch police has noticed that in cases of honour-based violence often people are involved that might suffer from some form of trauma. Over the last years the police has dealt with cases from, for example, refugees that have fled from with war infected regions. Next to that, the road to the north of Europe was also involved with serious safety issues. Therefore the police works together with specialists in the treatment of trauma. In this article some frequently encountered misunderstandings about trauma are described, illustrated with cases of honour-based violence. The first misunderstanding is that all trauma is PTSS; the second is that PTSD explains all the mis happenings in an individual’s life; the third misunderstanding is that EMDR is the effective treatment for all sorts of trauma.

What role do Dutch criminologists play in the – especially since the onset of the so-called migration crisis – heated national and international debates on the criminalization of migration and border mobility? This will be the central question in this publication. Based on an inventory of national and international peer-reviewed publications written by Dutch criminologists, the article will reflect upon Dutch criminologists’ public role. In addition, based on the observed ‘silences’ in the scholarly debates on the criminalization of migration and border mobility, three avenues for further criminological research will be identified.

Gender as a construct has been introduced into criminology half a century ago and has contributed to an understanding of the relation between gender and violence. Therefore, when improving resilience of professionals encountering violent behaviour, gender might be an important construct to take into account. We know from the literature that men and women do not experience victimization and perpetration in the same way but at the same time there are some blind spots with regard to male victimization and female perpetration. Increasing resilience against violence is only possible when we do not automatically use gender stereotyping in understanding and reducing violence.

Violence in the name of honour has an ancient ring to it. But honour codes tend to be very flexible: cyber-space has given a new dimension to honour-related violence. Images and messages that are perceived as violations of honour also pass through social media. Unfortunately these stings on the good name of the family are quite difficult to remove. In this contribution is explained how violations of honour occur on the internet. Next to that will be described how currently in the Netherlands criminal law especially regarding vice is being adapted in order to deal with phenomena like sexting and sextortion. What are the consequences of these changes for dealing with modern forms of the violation of family honour?

Violence in the name of the honour of the family and human trafficking are considered to be different phenomena. But in the impressive body of literature on both types of crime and as seen by specialists from the Dutch National Police, some indications can be found that there is a toxic relationship between the two forms of delinquency: human traffickers can call on the family-honour of their victims in order to blackmail them into prostitution and to keep them working in that field against their will.

In this contribution is looked into the world of serious gaming. What can be the function of these game in a digital context? Elaborate attention is paid to a particular game that has been developed for discussing sexual (health) issues and rights. Although this particular game ‘My Jorley’ has been developed for a Ghanese public of youngsters, the technique behind this game can also be applied in the other prevention programs.

In the Netherlands violence in dependent relationships is handled ‘gender neutral’: it is assumed that men and women can both be perpetrator and victim of this violence. A gender neutral approach does not hinder gender sensitivity. With gender sensitivity it is about the question whether sufficient account is taken with gender aspects. In this article the authors look into what is on offer for the men. Although regular welfare organisations, private organisations and local self-help organisations are involved, until now there is is no structural offering of methodologically well substantiated activities.

In this exploratory study, two questions are addressed. Firstly, examining police files on honour based violence (HBV), do we find conflicts that take place in asylum centers, and if so, what can we learn from those files? Secondly, to what extent can these police files provide insight into the role of HBV in the lives of refugees in the Netherlands? What are the possibilities and limitations and how can they be dealt with in future research?
We apply the importation and deprivation models within total institutions on asylum centers and zoom in on honour based conflicts within these centers. The conflicts revolved around family life and morality issues, and resulted in both threats and physical violence. Among younger victims, their choice of partner was the main stumbling block, while later in the course of life conflicts arose from divorces and new relationships. Distinguishing between importation and deprivation factors within these HBV cases turned out to be difficult for two reasons. Firstly, within Dutch policy HBV is primarily viewed as violence within (extended) families and often originating from conflicts regarding partner choice and morality. This focus corresponds to importation rather than deprivation. Secondly, many cases showed interaction between the two factors, for example the many different backgrounds of the inhabitants of the asylum center can be viewed as both importation and deprivation. Future research should look into (a combination of) different data sources to shed light on the role of deprivation, because deprivational factors are more susceptible for (short term) policy measures to help prevent unnecessary stress and causes of conflict, whether honour based or not.

Tackling honour related violence is part of the Dutch policy on domestic violence. On the police level a centre of expertise was installed, the LEC EGG. Next to strategies with regard to detection, the LEC EGG has put forward instructions with regard to the application of police mediation in cases of honour related violence. These rules, the ‘7 golden W’s’, are presented and discussed, paying attention to the institutional role of the police.

In the traditional understanding of police culture as well as in the criticism against the use of the concept of ‘police culture’, not much attention has been paid towards the influence of the representation of police work and crime in the media. Although since the pioneering studies in the sixties and seventies of the last century it has been made clear that police work is not limited to dealing with crime and criminal justice, the mass media for decades have presented a completely different image: one of thrill seeking and hardcore action. Police officers themselves tend to ‘sensationalize’ their work. Police culture is no longer understood as a deterministic coping mechanism, but is rooted in active and constructive participation of police officers. As a consequence we must pay attention to representation of ‘the police’ by the media and ask ourselves how identity work by police officers is influenced by the representation of crime and the police in the (new) media.

People have all kinds of dependency relationships, for example in family life and on the work floor. Since almost a decade, the Dutch government uses the term ‘violence in dependency relationships’ for all kinds of violence that are applied in these dependency relationships: domestic violence, honour-based violence, child abuse, abuse of the elderly, abuse by professionals for example in homes for children or the elderly and violence related to prostitution and the trafficking of humans. In this article an overview is given that demonstrates how in all these forms of violence elements of cybercrime can be recognized.