How do organisations collaborate in the daily practice of law enforcement? And what role plays autonomy of government agencies within this cooperation? In this article the authors answer these questions on the base of two case studies: two large scale projects in which a partnership approach was used to combat human trafficking in the Netherlands. Collaboration between city administration, investigation services and tax authorities seems to be very hard to put into practice. This is understandable from the theory that government agencies, while performing their tasks, are focused on achieving autonomy.

Since the last years there is extensive ongoing debate in Belgium about jury trials at the Assize Court. These trials are an example of direct participation of citizens in the criminal justice system. Hence this jury has obtained a special position in the Belgian administration of justice. Jury deliberations behind closed doors and the isolation of jury members from the outside world contribute to the fascination for this legal phenomenon. The element of secrecy also explains why there is so little empirical research on the jury’s functioning and the jurors’ experiences during the process. By means of interviews with former jury members, we studied the influence of lay participation in a jury trial on their views and confidence in jury decision making. We found that a positive evaluation of participation in a jury may strengthen their involvement with and trust in jury decision making. However, our research also reveals that jury trials may lead to some unacceptable deficits in the proceedings and outcome of the process. These results are contextualised in the broader debate about the jury and the demand for reform of the assize court proceedings.

This article first addresses the tension between scientific requirements and policy oriented criminological research. The article then proceeds to describe the historical development of policy oriented criminology in the Netherlands. This narrative can be divided into three phases: early history, the years 1980-1995 and the period from 1995. Criminology in the Netherlands has always had and retains a strong policy orientation. The growth of professional (academic) criminology is a relatively recent phenomenon. ‘Critical’ and ‘public’ criminology always have been and remain the work of individuals. The development of policy oriented criminological research in the Netherlands appears dependent on governmental involvement. The situations in Belgium and the USA give the same impression.