Subcultural theory and cultural criminology have traditionally viewed ‘underground’ youth movements as providing images of deviance/resistance which the cultural industries harvest to turn a profit. The logic follows that street and sub cultures imbue products with a ‘transgressive edge’ that increases their appeal within youth markets. This paper uses the example of UK ‘grime’ music to demonstrate how this dynamic cannot be viewed as applying universally in contemporary times. Where their street orientated content is censured, many grime artistes express a desire for commercial success which would ultimately emerge through muting their rhetorical links to crime and violence and explicitly championing ‘mainstream’ values. This case is used as an empirical cue to explore the use and critique of the concept of ‘resistance’ within cultural criminology and subcultural theory. The paper problematizes commodification of resistance discourses as they apply to the rugged culture of the streets and indeed its supposed ‘oppositional’ character where disadvantaged urban youth clearly embody and practice the logic of neoliberalism. It furthermore suggests that certain critiques of cultural criminology go too far in denying any meaning to criminality and subcultural practice beyond consumer desire. Ultimately, the concept of ‘defiance’ is suggested as a useful tool to understand the norms of and behaviours of the excluded.

This contribution explores the possibility of teaching international law in a critical fashion. I examine whether the training which is taking place at law schools is establishing and sustaining a cultural hegemony (a term borrowed from Antonio Gramsci). I ask whether the current focus on technical practice-oriented teaching is a condition which should be questioned, even disrupted? In my thoughts on reorientations of this culture, a central term is the German word Bildung. Bildung refers to knowledge and education as an end in itself (John Dewey) as well as an organic process (Hegel), and therefore incorporates a wider understanding than the English word ‘education’. In terms of international law, a notion of Bildung allows us to acknowledge the political nature of the discipline; it may even allow us to ‘politicize’ our students.

In this article a longitudinal effect study is described of resilience training Diamant. The training focuses in particular on adolescents with a dual identity who do not have work, are not enrolled in an education, feel unfairly treated (relatively deprived), have low self-esteem, and are at risk of social isolation. The training can be considered as a method to prevent development of criminal behaviour and possibly radicalisation. Certified trainers work with small groups of 10 to 15 adolescents to increase their resilience and help them finding their place in society. The present research focused on the following questions: (1) Does this training have a positive effect on self-esteem among the participants? (2) Does social isolation decrease as a consequence of the training? (3) Does the training reduce feelings of relative deprivation and help participants better deal with conflicts? Participants were interviewed before and halfway the training and directly after completing the training. A follow-up measurement three months after the end of the training examined effects on the longer term. In total 44 semi-structured interviews were held. Interviews were written out and coded using a two-step procedure: In the first step two researchers independently coded each interview. Second, when necessary, changes in the coding scheme were made. Then each interview was coded separately by the two researchers and disagreements were discussed until full agreement was reached. The results show that Diamant has a positive effect on self-esteem of participants. Also, participants overall showed an increase in connectedness to society. Third, Diamant reduced feelings of relative deprivation and participants indicated they could better deal with conflicts. Based on these results it is concluded that Diamant is effective in regard to its goals which were evaluated in this study. Limitations of the research and possibilities for future studies are discussed.

It is assumed that the online world creates new possibilities for criminal behaviour. Only recently criminologists started the debate on the applicability of traditional criminological theories to cybercrime offending. Data retrieved from the national Dutch survey Youth & Cybersafety indicate that cyberbullying behaviour is not only strongly interwoven with traditional bullying behaviours, but is also affected by the distinct features of the online environment. The findings give support to the suggestion that the aetiological schema to explain cyberbullying should postulate the interaction between individual characteristics, distinct features of the online environment and the interaction between offline and online social realities.

Whistleblowing research should more explicitly focus on underlying motives for the decision to report on organizational misbehavior. Arguably, these motives are connected to the factors that can explain the decision whether or not to blow the whistle. Reporting for egoistic reasons can probably be explained by other factors than reporting for altruistic reasons. This article aims to enrich the whistleblowing literature by proposing grid-group cultural theory as an alternative approach. This theoretical framework could provide more insight into reporting decisions by identifying various motives for such decisions and linking them with elements in the organizational culture that could explain them. As an illustration, the theory is applied in an ethnographic study in two investigative teams of the Belgian federal police. More research is, however, needed to fine-tune the conceptual framework and to test the preliminary findings of this empirical study.

Utrecht, the fourth largest city of The Netherlands, is addressing resolving social conflict by promoting schools to adhere to the Peaceful School Program and civilians and professionals to join the Peaceful Neighborhood Program. The Peaceful School Program is designed to address problematic behavior of youth in primary, secondary and high school education and evolved into a democratic and participatory citizenship program. The Peaceful Neighborhood Program is involving important organizations that are active within the neighborhood, members of the community and stake-holders to adapt peaceful attitudes in daily life, including a mind-set that addresses conflicts by resolving them (together).
These two programs are in the process of ‘conquering’ the whole of the city of Utrecht and every single neighborhood. The so-called Utrecht Model for Mediation is supporting these Peaceful Programs, through empowering citizens and professional to enhance their ‘peaceful skills’ and skills for conflict resolution. Citizens and professionals are being trained to develop this mindset. The Utrecht Model for Mediation is organizing a community of mediators that can be of help. A pool of volunteer mediators is being formed to help organizations, professionals, parents, students and members of the community in case of problems, tensions, problematic behavior of youth groups, etcetera. Professional mediators intervene in case of escalated conflicts and penal cases.

Until recently, legal-dogmatic research stood at the undisputed pinnacle of legal scientific research. The last few years saw increasing criticism, both nationally and internationally, levelled at this type of research or at its dominant role. Some see this as a crisis in legal scholarship, but a closer look reveals a great need for facts, common sense, and nuance. Critics usually base their calls for innovation on a one-dimensional and flawed image of legal-dogmatic research. In this article, the author subsequently addresses the various critical opinions themselves and provide an overview of the innovations that are proposed. He concludes that there are a lot of efforts to innovate legal scholarship, and that the field is more multiform than ever, which is a wonderful and unprecedented state of affairs. This multiformity should be cherished and given plenty of room to develop and grow, because most innovative movements are still fledgling and need time, sometimes a lot of time, to increase in quality. It would be a shame to nip them in the bud now, merely because they are still finding their way. In turn, none of these innovative movements have cause to disqualify legal-dogmatic research, as sometimes happens (implicitly), by first creating a straw-man version of the field and then dismissing it as uninteresting or worse. That only polarises the discussion and gains us nothing. Progress can only be achieved through cooperation, with an open mind towards different types of legal research and a willingness to accept a critical approach towards their development. In the end, the only criterion that matters is quality. All types of research are principally subject to the same quality standards. The author provides some clarification regarding these standards as well.

Felson introduced the concept of offender convergence settings in his articles on situational crime prevention. He refers to physical locations where criminals get together to relax, share information, fence stolen goods, plot new crimes, etc. Such places come in the form of restaurants and cafes that are in the hands of the ‘underworld’, but may equally well consist of deserted schoolyards where unruly adolescents gather. According to Felson, such settings facilitate the committing of crimes and enable the creation of structure and continuity in criminal networks.
In this article the authors argue that virtual meeting places also exist that can be labeled as offender convergence settings. To demonstrate this, a case study regarding a so-called ‘carding’ forum is used. Carding is a term from the world of cybercrime and refers to the set of techniques by which personal financial information is acquired, traded and abused by criminals. Through a qualitative and a quantitative analysis of the carding forum, the possibilities for cyber criminals to come into contact with each other, co-offending, and the durability of the criminal network is analyzed.

Two waves of democratization define the post-Cold War era of globalization. The first one saw democracies emerge in post-communist countries and post-Apartheid South Africa. The current wave began with the uprisings in the Middle East. The first focused on the formal institutions of the market and the liberal state, the second is participatory and rooted in collective action. The individualistic conception of freedom and democracy that underlies the first wave is false and fetishistic. The second wave shows democracy’s moral appeal is the commitment to equal participation in determining the terms and conditions of social life. Freedom, thus, requires collective action under conditions of equality, mutual recognition, and respect.

The UPR is an increasingly important instrument for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to advocate for the protection and promotion of human rights in the Netherlands. In this article, the way that NGOs have used the UPR in relation to the Netherlands will be discussed. This will be done primarily from the perspective of Amnesty International. The article first outlines how NGOs can contribute to the UPR process. Subsequently, it discusses the substantive input provided by Amnesty International for the review of the Netherlands. Finally, the potential impact of this intervention on the promotion and protection of human rights on the ground in the Netherlands will be considered. This impact will depend, inter alia, on the de-politicization of the UPR, the credibility of the process, the follow-up of recommendations made during the review and, prominently, the political will of the incoming government.

This article examines how a liberal public morality can be most successfully defended against perfectionism. First of all the five most important liberal arguments for freedom are taken from what is called the liberal canon: a number of characteristic works of John Locke, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Isaiah Berlin, Joseph Raz, Ronald Dworkin, and John Rawls. These five arguments are identified as: social and political realism, respect for autonomy, fallibility of ideas, pluralism, and respect for reasonableness. Next, the persuasiveness of these arguments is assessed, starting with the argument of respect for reasonableness, which is at the heart of Rawls’s political liberalism. It is concluded that in itself this argument is not strong enough to persuade perfectionists. A powerful defence of a liberal public morality needs the other arguments for freedom as well. Finally, the paper outlines how these other arguments can strengthen the argument of respect for reasonableness in a coherent manner.

Globalization is commonly cited as an important factor in theorising legal phenomena in the contemporary world. Although many legal disciplines have sought to adapt their theories to globalization, progress has been comparatively modest within contemporary analytical jurisprudence. This paper aims to offer a survey of recent scholarship on legal theory and globalization and suggests various ways in which these writings are relevant to the project of jurisprudence. This paper argues, more specifically, that the dominant interpretation of globalization frames it as a particular form of legal pluralism. The resulting concept – global legal pluralism – comes in two broad varieties, depending on whether it emphasizes normative or institutional pluralism. This paper goes on to argue that these concepts coincide with two central themes of jurisprudence, namely its concern with normativity and institutionality. Finally, this paper reflects on the feasibility of constructing a ‘general’ and ‘descriptive’ jurisprudence in light of globalization.

Leidinggevenden die werkzaam zijn geweest bij een onderneming die bestraft is voor een inbreuk van artikel 6 Mw ervaren een negatief effect op hun carrièreontwikkeling. Het negatieve effect neemt de vorm aan van een lagere kans op een leidinggevende functie na bekendwording van de inbreuk. Dit volgt uit een vergelijking met leidinggevenden van gelijksoortige maar niet-bestrafte ondernemingen.

Door middel van een stated preference-analyse is onderzocht wat de beste manier van communicatie is om te zorgen dat men zich aan regels van de overheid houdt. Zowel aan leidinggevenden van bedrijven als burgers zijn voorlichtingsboodschappen over door hen begane kleine overtredingen voorgelegd. Respondenten zeggen zich het meest te laten motiveren om de overtredingen niet langer te begaan door voorlichtingsboodschappen met een afschrikwekkend element. Bij burgers gaat het daarbij om de sanctiekans, bij leidinggevenden van bedrijven om de boetehoogte. Ook boodschappen die zich richten op persoonlijke en sociale normen worden motiverend gevonden, maar in mindere mate.

In this paper delinquent development from age 12 to 29 of 498 juvenile sex offenders is analyzed. Fixed and random effects models are used to determine the effect of employment and of the stability of employment on the criminal career. We first show that juvenile sex offenders have limited access to the labor market, with stagnating participation rates from age 25 on, many different and short contracts. In spite of this, employment reduces offending, and having stable employment has an additional reducing effect on crime. We also looked at three types of sex offenders (child abusers, peer abusers and group offenders), who have a different background and for whom therefore effects could differ. We found no difference for offender types in the effect of employment on offending. The effects of employment stability, however, were due to only child abusers experiencing significant effects of continuity. We conclude that for juvenile sex offenders employment impacts similarly on offending as was found in previous studies among high-risk groups.

Much of developmental and life course criminological research addresses either the onset and escalation of antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence, or the desistance from crime during the adult years. Far less attention has been paid to the years in which adolescents first make the transition to adulthood. Over the last 50 years due to increased educational demands this transition period has become prolonged and increasingly deinstitutionalized, resulting in a new life stage denoted as the emerging adult period. This introductory paper describes the ways in which this newly formed life stage between ages 18 and 28 is relevant for criminology, questions our knowledge on criminal career development during this period and explores new research avenues that may contribute to a full-fledged criminology of the emerging adulthood.

This article deals with group dynamic processes. In particular it deals with behavioral adaptation. A theory will be presented about the group dynamic processes in which behavioral adaptation takes place. This theory will be used to analyze the delinquent behavior of a group of students. At the end of the article the group dynamic processes of the students will be contrasted with those of a group that seems to be very different, namely a group of ‘Moroccan’ street boys from Amsterdam. Differences become most visible in the reaction of the social environment towards the group behavior and the response of the group itself to this reaction. ‘Moroccan’ street boys respond to the negative reaction of the society with secondary deviance. They are caught up in a vicious circle of group dynamics from which the students manage to escape.

This article is based on a research in which we are looking for exemplary urban professionals who seem to be successful in pursuing the social goals they set together with their partners. In urban disadvantaged neighbourhoods, it is not always the standard procedure that gets things done. In the Netherlands decades of urban renewal in its various forms have not solved problems permanently. This does not mean that success is never attained. What seems to have helped in some cases is the presence of a type of practitioner who goes beyond standard procedure. These are professionals, as the ‘casting cop’ we introduce in this article, who do not give up and who are able to succeed where others have failed. Most likely these are experienced practitioners who learned how to cope. Most likely they are actors who inspire others.What we ask is how these practitioners in urban districts do their job in controversial, politically sensitive policy processes that might develop in unintended and surprising ways. In other words we have as a central question: through what ways of working and relating do exemplary urban practitioner (try to) get things done?The professionals we call exemplary are not always taking the common routes to realize their goals. They will not automatically follow the routines of problem solving and because of that they can make a difference. They are critical about mainstream practices and try to find solutions starting from the perspectives of citizens. When we talk about ‘ways of working and relating’ we refer to the qualities these professionals put to use in the planning and decision making processes of urban renewal. It has to do with personal qualities like attitude and experience, but also with strategic skills such as networking with policy partners. ‘Getting things done’ means solving problems or better stated exploiting opportunities. More broadly is their aim to transform what is called ‘urban problem districts’ into ‘livable neighborhoods’.

Het pas geïntroduceerde Integraal afwegingskader voor beleid en regelgeving (IAK) wordt wel gepresenteerd als de ‘Nederlandse impact assessment (IA)’ en deelt ook enkele ambities met IA-systemen zoals die in veel landen en ook in de Europese Unie bestaan. Het IAK blijkt echter op een aantal cruciale punten af te wijken van de normen die veelal, bijvoorbeeld binnen de Europese Commissie, gelden voor IA. Hoewel de afwijkingen deels verklaarbaar zijn vanuit het Nederlandse politieke systeem, is de bedoeling van IA-achtige instrumenten zoals IAK nu juist, zo betoogt de bijdrage, om dit systeem op een aantal punten te doorbreken.

What do we know about the criminological aspects of international crimes? What do they entail and what are facilitating factors which can help us understand their causes and how should we respond to these crimes? Are international crimes merely a more extreme form of ordinary crimes or are they a different kind of criminality? In the past few years a growing number of scholars both at a national and at an international level have devoted their scholarly attention to this important and urgent research theme. In this special issue we aim to present a number of articles in which different perspectives on this topic are presented. By doing so we hope to enhance our knowledge of this phenomenon and to provide an impulse to further criminological research within this area in both the Netherlands and Belgium. This introductory article gives an overview of the state of the art of international crime criminology in the Netherlands and Belgium, and the rest of the world.