National governments have adopted a variety of approaches to the protection of whistleblowers. This article refers to examples in Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and ongoing work in Ireland, the Netherlands and Serbia. It is not always clear what would count as success, but none of the existing laws appears to have wholly achieved its aims. The Council of Europe aims to establish some common ground in Europe by drafting a Recommendation which will establish principles on which Member States should draft laws and establish systems. This article considers the work done so far on the draft Recommendation, discusses some of the most important and problematic aspects, and suggests improvements.

In principle a Dutch life sentence is served in full. ‘Lifers’ can benefit from executive clemency. However, over the last 26 years clemency has been applied so sparingly as to call into question whether clemency for ‘lifers’ is a real possibility at all. Recently the European Court of Human Rights has refined its case-law on the compatibility of life sentences with Art. 3 ECHR, in the national context as well as in the context of extradition. This contribution discusses whether under Article 3 ECHR the Dutch practice of executing life sentences in full acts as a bar to extradition or surrender of a person who faces the imposition and/or execution of a life sentence in the Netherlands.

In recent decades the night-time economy has started to play a significant role in city centre regeneration; it has become a vital element of the urban economy, as well as a marketing tool in the competition between cities. Concerns about personal safety and fear of crime determine to a large extent the success of these nightlife districts. Based on an analysis of policy documents, night-time observations and expert interviews with stakeholders in the Safe Nightlife Programmes of Rotterdam and Utrecht, different local safety measures and their legitimizations in different local urban settings will be analysed. The question raised is how surveillance measures in different nightlife districts are legitimized, taking into account the fact that cities' nightlife districts do not only need to be safe, but are also favoured by its visitors for adventure and excitement. What are the social implications of these surveillance measures and what does this mean for the character of cities' nightlife districts?

The main question of this article is why the existing diverse populist movements have at least one feature in common: Crime, security and harsher punishments are high on their political agenda. The author points out that the rise of criminality in the last 20 years is a real basis for the growing anxiety among the population about insecurity. This anxiety is reinforced by the blown up media attention for crime issues. The dominance of the security issue is further explained and enhanced by cultural factors like individualisation, migration and the rise of a vitalist culture characterised by a geografical and normative boundlessness. In this context norm violations are always lurking and contributing to an insecure, complex and chaotic society. (In)security has become the common denominator to which all grievances can be reduced. The creation of new structures giving reassurance could provide a democratic alternative for the unevitable authoritarian tendency in state policy caused by the rise of populism. This type of social order should be understood in terms of arrangements of institutions and of tuning stakeholders to one another. Taking this longing for security among the population seriously means also to stop addressing civilians as consumers and start urging them to act like co-responsibles.

There is a strange contradiction in the history of Dutch criminal justice. On the one hand, until well into the 20^th Century, it was peculiarly backward in terms of criminal procedure that remained based on principles deriving essentially from the era of the first Dutch republic (17^th and 18^th Century) or even earlier. On the other, The Netherlands was one of the first countries in Europe to lastingly abolish capital punishment without the intermediate phase of continuing executions out of public view. In this, Dutch criminal justice was decidedly ahead of its times. This contribution examines this apparent contradiction that cannot be entirely explained by existing theories on (the abolition of) capital punishment. It must also be seen in the light of the historical role of publicity/transparency for the legitimacy of criminal justice in the Netherlands, its link to a legal culture of public confidence in the criminal justice authorities and the relatively late reception of Enlightenment ideals.

Various criminologists describe family and partner relationships as forms of social capital. Also research shows that many delinquents say they have generally good relations with their family. Instead of focusing only on the delinquent's individual responsibility and risk factors, probation work should pay more attention to the protective aspects of the former convict's social environment. The author presents a framework, based on the work of the family therapist Nagy, that provides probations workers with the tools to involve the delinquent's family members in the process towards desistance.

Intervention teams are among the most discussed tools in the current process of securitisation. Their integrated approach takes into account all underlying causes of insecurity and quality of life. For a more effective approach authorities and organisations have to cooperate and let go of their mutual boundaries. But can the participants put aside their differences in perspectives and policies? This article discusses the goal of ‘ontkokering’ (‘decompartalisation’), this was done through a study of the practices of intervention team SIP in Amsterdam. On basis of thirteen interviews and observations the authors argue that there are three main mechanisms or ‘molar barriers’, which conserve the old structures in the integrated approach of the intervention team: ‘methodical robustness’, ‘institutional robustness’ and ‘financial robustness’.

There is currently no legal base for financial supervision and crisis management at the European level. Powers are nationally based. This article develops the financial trilemma, which states that a stable financial system, an integrated financial system and national financial autonomy are incompatible. Any two of the three objectives can be combined, but not all three; one has to give. Assuming that a stable financial system is desirable, this article explores the trade-off between national financial autonomy and financial integration in Europe. Policymakers face a clear choice. If they want to preserve the benefits of the single market for financial services (financial integration), financial supervision and crisis management have to be based on a European footing. This article stresses that a strong legal base is needed for such European arrangements. Voluntary cooperation does not work in a crisis, as national governments tend to follow their national interests. The alternative to European arrangements is preserving the current national powers. This article predicts that banking will then become national: each country has its own national banks.

In the past few years, an increasing number of Private Security Companies (PSCs) - also sometimes referred to as Private Military Companies (PMCs) - have emerged offering and conducting anti-piracy services. These companies offer services in addition to security provided by states and their government agencies. PSCs are today hired to provide anti-piracy services in different parts of the world, but mostly in strategically important waterways where piracy is a serious security concern. This article examines the employment of PSCs in two such waterways, namely the Malacca Straits and the Gulf of Aden, and discusses the risks, challenges and benefits of privatising maritime security.