In the early years of kickboxing in the Netherlands, a number of fighters got involved in criminal activities. Literature typically focusses on social learning, but as the inner city of Amsterdam in the eighties provides a specific setting, this article particularly describes a historical process. In the qualitative data from interviews, observations, and various documents, three questions: Who were these kickboxers? Where did they enter the criminal circles? Why did they go along with what happened there? It turns out, successful fighters easily came in contact with people from the underground, as they met in the gyms and in the night life where many fighters worked as bouncers. In a friendly atmosphere, the risks of seduction were hard to recognize for inexperienced fighters.

This research aims to contribute to the development of an adequate handling of the complex, conflictual family situation that occurs during a parental abduction. The following research question is answered: to what extent can the methods of conflict resolution – in the Belgian context – be optimized so that the interests of the child are guaranteed, in the light of the theoretical insights provided by Glasl’s conflict theory? Attention is paid to the limited effectiveness of legal procedures on the one hand and the mediation on the other. The method of de-escalation, developed by Glasl, offers a useful diagnostic tool for the conflict counsellor. In addition, the metaphor of the ladder he uses is extremely valuable as a tool for gaining insight into the mechanisms of conflict-escalation. A clear theoretical framework for the judiciary in the interpretation of an escalated conflict can lead to a better understanding of the possibilities and limits of cooperation between ex-partners, which benefits the best interests of the child.

Wanneer een jeugdige te maken krijgt met jeugdreclassering, richt Jeugdbescherming Regio Amsterdam, verder te noemen Jeugdbescherming, zich bij de begeleiding van de jeugdige niet alleen op de jeugdige zelf, maar op het hele gezin. Conform de door Jeugdbescherming ontwikkelde methodiek, Intensief Systeemgericht Casemanagement, wordt het hele gezin betrokken. Deze methodiek wordt toegepast ongeacht het kader (het civielrechtelijke, strafrechtelijke of preventieve kader) waarbinnen Jeugdbescherming werkt. In tegenstelling tot in het civiele recht, lijkt de focus in de wet in het geval van het strafrecht echter vooral te zijn gericht op de individuele jeugdige verdachte of veroordeelde. In dit artikel wordt daarom onderzocht welke mogelijkheden de wet biedt om te werken volgens het Intensief Systeemgericht Casemanagement in het strafrechtelijke kader, tijdens de uitvoering van jeugdreclassering. Ook worden er aanknopingspunten in de doelstellingen van jeugdreclassering gezocht voor deze werkwijze.

In criminology, explanations for engagement in externalizing or criminal behavior are often found within the direct (social) environment of the individual. More specifically, family functioning, the quality of family relations and parenting strategies during childhood and adolescence are found to be related to the development of externalizing problems or criminal behavior over the life-course. Although less well studied, the opposite might also be true: externalizing problems or delinquency during childhood and adolescence may in turn also affect some important (family-related) transitions over the life-course, such as engagement in romantic relationships, the transition to parenthood, parenting strategies and broader family functioning. Not surprisingly, in life-course criminology there is increasing attention for familial similarities in externalizing and delinquent behavior. What underlies intergenerational continuity of criminal behavior? Under which circumstances behavior is continued over the course of generations? What is the role of the family? What is needed to break intergenerational cycles and facilitate earlier and more effective interventions? In this article, a literature review is provided on the role of the family in intergenerational continuity of externalizing or criminal behavior over the life-course and across generations.

In this introductory chapter we provide an overview of criminological research into intergenerational transmission of criminal behaviour that currently is, and has been, conducted both internationally and in the Netherlands. The most important findings of these studies are also discussed. Next, possible explanations are discussed for intergenerational transmission of crime in general, and more particularly for families that are involved in more serious and organized crime. Moreover, possible ways in which intergenerational transmission of crime can be prevented are discussed. Finally, we give some directions for future research on this topic and will introduce the contributions to this special issue.

This study (N=921) examines whether living together with a criminal parent moderates the intergenerational continuity of crime. Results are mixed, but show that the intergenerational continuity of crime decreases when the child lived together with the criminal parent for a shorter period of time. This association is most strong for children whose criminal mothers live on a large distance from them. Longitudinal fixed effects models, however, show that these results are likely the consequence of between-individual differences and therefore do not reflect causal influences on the intergenerational continuity of crime.

Previous research on intergenerational continuity of crime is primarily focused on transmission from fathers to children. In this article, we aim to give insight in the role of mothers in (the prevention of) continuity of organized crime. The results of our explorative study on 25 organized crime offenders based in Amsterdam and their partners and children, show that parenting skills and norms and values of mother seem to have an important role in both the intergenerational continuity of organized crime and the prevention of the transmission.

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.

It is common knowledge that the police in executing its duty as “rule enforcer” disposes of certain discretionary powers. Because of the heavy workload and the often ambiguous legislation, the police officer needs to decide on a selective basis when, how and towards whom he/she will act. These discretionary powers are present in proactive identity controls and already provoked strong reactions in the past. The media accused the police of over-controlling certain minority groups. With this ethnographic study into the Belgian practice of identity controls, in which we observe and interview police officers, we wish to get a better view of the way in which identity controls are executed. Although the research is still ongoing, we have already been able to establish that the decision-making process is based on a police feeling which police officers claim to have and which is formed by (a combination of) different triggers attracting their attention.

The article describes some highlights of the advice and concludes that the document mainly describes the current situation of the probationservice. The advice may possibly contribute to the upcoming discussion regarding the organization of the probation service.

In the United States, the term disproportionate minority contact (DMC) is used to refer to the disproportionate number of minority youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system. Statistics on DMC in the United States put the issue on the political agenda and measures have been taken to reduce the inequality. In the Netherlands, there are some studies on the representation of ethnic minority groups in suspect statistics, but data regarding all ethnic groups at various stages of the juvenile justice chain are lacking. Due to this lack of information, DMC is not mentioned in Dutch research literature and is not a political issue. Therefore, the purpose of this article was to explore whether DMC existed in the Netherlands and whether elements of the US policy could be applied to the Dutch situation. To investigate this, the likelihood (odds ratio (OR)) was calculated for young people with a migration background to be registered and held as a suspect, to participate in an alternative punishment program (Halt) and their likelihood of incarceration. It turned out that the OR for young people with a non-Western migration background to be registered as a suspect was more than three times as high, with an OR of 5 or higher for some ethnic groups. The chances of a Halt-settlement were much lower for young people with a non-Western background. The odds of ending up in a youth prison was over six times higher for youngsters with a non-Western background compared to their Dutch native peers. For young people of Caribbean and Moroccan origin the likelihood was more than ten times higher. These results showed that DMC is present at all examined stages in the Dutch juvenile justice chain. The large overrepresentation of young people with a migration background (especially of Moroccan and Caribbean origin) shows that further research is needed in order to develop programs to reduce DMC. To establish this, it is important to register the ethnic origin of the individuals at all stages of the juvenile justice chain.

Early literature on female perpetrators of World War II focused on labelling the accused as deranged psychopaths, thereby distinguishing the group of perpetrators from the vast subdued and ‘normal’ population. While this perception has changed over the past decades, the perception of female perpetrators has remained limited either way, women are denied having a lot of agency when perpetrating crimes in conflict. Similar to the ‘mad Nazi’-theory these narratives imply that female perpetrators are different from ‘ordinary’ women, as their actions collide with notions of ideal femininity. This empirical research has shown that in the case of female perpetrators of World War II in the Netherlands it seems that they can be seen as ordinary women operating in extraordinary circumstances. In this study, a special group of female war criminals is described. Against the background of early post-war imaging of such women and more recent research on female perpetration during wartime, an analysis of Dutch perpetrators who received severe punishments after the War, is made. Based on unique historical data, the criminal career of these women as World War II perpetrators is analysed. The outcomes show that a notable part already had a criminal record before the war and that the perception of who they were and why they acted the way they did needs reconsideration, since they were not psychologically weak and incompetent. They were generally young, unemployed and low educated and they planned and committed their crimes of treasons in order to create better living conditions for themselves. In fact, one can claim that these women are likely to be ordinary people influenced by dispositional and situational factors.

On 1 April 2014, the Dutch Act on Adolescent Criminal Law entered into force. With this law, the age limit in article 77c of the Criminal Code, which allows for the application of juvenile criminal law to young adults, was stretched from 21 to 23 years. In this article stock is taken of the developments that have taken place in the four years after the introduction of this law. In practice, article 77c Criminal Code is increasingly being applied in case of young adult suspects, however still to a little extent. Among others, this has to do with confusion about the target group that qualifies for the adolescent criminal law. The access to and justification for the application of the law show a very diverse picture.

In the current criminological literature surprisingly little is known about the development of partnerships of detainees during and after detention. In particular, it is unknown to what extent existing differences in the relationship quality at the start of the detention period continue. Therefore, this study examined how the partnerships of detainees developed by using data from the Prison Project. This is a longitudinal study in which 747 detainees with a partner were interviewed at various moments during detention and six months after detention. The results show that bad partnerships at the beginning of detention remain in general bad or end during and/or after detention, while the average to good relationships remain the same.

This article examines whether samples obtained through offline and online modes, within the context of juvenile delinquency research, differ from one another, when in principle the same population of youths could be reached. Youths participating through a computer-assisted web interviewing mode (CAWI) report less delinquent behaviour, fewer risk factors for delinquency, and exhibit a lower prevalence in police registration, compared to youths participating through a mixed computer-assisted personal interviewing and computer-assisted self-interviewing mode (CAPI/CASI).

Criminology traditionally focuses on the human experience. However, several criminologists have seriously criticized this anthropocentric perspective. In their view from a criminological perspective humans and other than human animals should be given equal attention. Although they advocate a non-speciesist criminology, they are not trying to fundamentally change criminology as we know it. Instead, their appeal is to not consider other than human creatures as passive objects and solely from the perspective of their usefulness for humans. Yet, this objective poses substantial methodological challenges to criminologists.

Around 36.000 men enter Dutch prisons every year. Nearly half of them are father. Imprisonment is destructive to father involvement. Many prisoners involuntary fail to stay connected with their family and are unable to reconnect with family after release. However, father involvement protects fragile families, children and fathers themselves from collateral consequences of imprisonment and even reduces recidivism. One of the first Dutch initiatives for fathers in prison came from voluntary organization Exodus. Since 2014, they run an 8-week workshop on fatherhood in a number of Dutch penal institutions. Fathers work on the restoration or reconstruction of their relationship with their children and parenting partners. In this article, we review participating fathers’ perceptions of the workshop and the changes in their attitude towards fatherhood.

Generally, large listed companies and banks immersed in a ‘risk and win’-culture do not have to deal with ‘deprivation of resources’ which may trigger violations of the law. The anomie-theory of Merton does not seem to fit in this context. It is more obvious that the pressure to realize lofty ambitions is the trigger for potential violations of the law. I therefore work out a ‘post-Mertonian’ anomie-concept using the ‘European Durkheim’ to examine some excessive tendencies of an originally American ‘risk and win’-culture. The aim is to work towards an anomie-theory of power illusions that makes sense in the context of corporate crime. The leading question is: which anomic attitudes prevail in an over-ambitious corporate culture and which aspirations and rationalizations can be distinguished? It is argued that an approach focused on CEO-personality traits is too limited and that the sociological approaches of Durkheim and Shover offer many points of departure to construct a plausible anomie-theory. The dimensions of that theory have been taken from studies which focus at two criminogenic norm-systems: an ‘ethos of winning at any price’ and an ‘ethos of entitlement’.