Illegal stay in the Netherlands is increasingly criminalized through new measurements and adaptations of the Aliens Law. In order to understand the incorporation of illegal immigrants in this restrictive political context, the ‘moral economy’ is introduced as a concept referring to the norms and expectations regarding justice and reciprocity that serve as guidelines for daily illegal live. This process of crimmigration minimalizes the opportunities of illegal immigrants and as an unintended consequence will push the illegal immigrants further towards charity, informal labour or crime. Paradoxically, illegal immigrants will become more vulnerable for exploitation instead of returning home as was intended.

In the Netherlands ‘Safety Houses’ have been established, in which partner organizations in the field of criminal justice, crime prevention, law enforcement, public administration and social services collaborate in order to reduce crime and recidivism, and to increase public safety. This article examines why some Safety Houses are better in achieving these goals than others. The effectiveness of 39 Safety Houses is analyzed by means of QCA (qualitative comparative analysis). Results show two different paths leading to effective outcomes. Effective Safety Houses have been in existence for at least three years, show a high degree of stability and a centrally integrated collaboration structure. In addition, they either have considerable resources at their disposal or have been set up with a network administrative organization, where a neutral coordinator governs the network.

Based on state-of-the-art scientific knowledge, this article reviews the physical aspects of firefighting in relation to physical safety. Firefighting is known to be one of the most demanding occupations. Based on the ‘Occupational Demands Model’ the (physical) strain of firefighting is described. The physical demands of firefighting are determined by a combination of firefighting-specific efforts, the use of personal protective equipment and enviromental and climatological conditions. The effects on the firefighter depend on his/her health and fitness status as well as on his/her hydration and nutrition status and influences the repressive job performance. If the demands and the effects are not in balance, personal safety, health and effectivity of the firefighter’s deployment are in jeopardy and hence his/her physical safety. In the second part of the paper, the relationship between the physical demands of firefighting and health, fitness and deployability of firefighters are described. Finally, a method of maintaining deployability prior to, during and post firefighting activities or training through active recovery is described to improve the preparedness of the individual firefighter.

Zogeheten ‘nieuwe toezichthouders’ in de vorm van buitengewoon opsporingsambtenaren (boa’s) en particuliere beveiligers moeten in Amsterdamse en Rotterdamse trams service verlenen en huisregels handhaven. Bij overtreding van deze huisregels kunnen zij in het uiterste geval een openbaarvervoerverbod (ov-verbod) aan reizigers opleggen. Onderhavige studie laat zien welke haken en ogen daar in de praktijk aan zitten.

Deze bijdrage biedt een rechtseconomische beschouwing van het Europese emissiehandelssysteem voor broeikasgassen. Daarbij wordt aandacht besteed aan de ontwikkeling van de bevoegdhedenverdeling tussen Europa en de lidstaten, de wijze waarop de bevoegdhedenverdeling functioneert en worden aanbevelingen gedaan voor de toekomstige verdeling van bevoegdheden.

In the opening section the author refers to the classical book of Dutch criminologist Willem Bonger on the links between poverty/social injustice and levels of crime. He then introduces his own work on the International Crime Victim Survey (ICVS) since 1989. The ICVS trend data on crime in Western countries during 1989 up to 2010 show a curvilinear movement peaking around 2000. The upward trend seems to track economic growth and to have mainly been caused by increased opportunities of crime. His analytical results concerning car theft and household burglary suggest that the international falls in crime since 2000 are largely caused by improved security. A comparative analysis shows for example that burglary rates have fallen in countries with high levels of home security such as Great Britain and the Netherlands and have continued to rise in low security countries such as Denmark and Switzerland. The author concludes that criminology has evolved both methodologically and theoretically since the publication of Bonger’s book in 1905. Some fundamental principles of the discipline, however, appear to have remained unchanged. Van Dijk’s own work is, just like that of Bonger, policy- oriented. It is driven by the motivation to assist governments in finding better ways to reduce suffering of human beings from crime, either as victims or as offenders.

Can a fruitful police surveillance scheme be based on supposedly increased risk immediately after and around a previous burglary (‘near repeat phenomenon’)? An experiment in Amstelveen has been set up and analysed for this purpose. Some neighbourhoods got a ‘near repeat surveillance’ scheme, and the occurrence of burglary in those areas has been compared with control neighbourhoods elsewhere in town. We observed a change in the near repeat pattern in the experimental area, but no net effect on burglary rates, presumably because of large between-neighbourhood variance in incidence.

Na jarenlange debatten over dit onderwerp heeft de Minister van VWS op 9 februari 2012 een wetsvoorstel ingediend dat winstuitkering door aanbieders van medisch-specialistische zorg onder voorwaarden mogelijk maakt. In dit artikel worden enkele kritische kanttekeningen geplaatst bij de gestelde voorwaarden en wordt uiteengezet welke aspecten nadere regulering behoeven. Geconcludeerd wordt dat met name de normatieve aspecten van winstuitkering en de publieke belangen die het wetsvoorstel beoogt te dienen verder zouden moeten worden uitgewerkt en dat een meer gedifferentieerde regeling de voorkeur zou verdienen.

Risk and needs assessment of juvenile offenders is essential in order to determine which (intensity of) intervention is required. Both the application of the risk principle and the needs principle requires a reliable and valid assessment of the recidivism risk and of the criminogenic needs. Structured assessment instruments are necessary for this purpose. Therefore, a set of new instruments (Landelijk Instrumentarium Jeugdstrafrechtsketen, LIJ) is developed for the Dutch juvenile justice system. LIJ aims to improve the assessment of juvenile delinquents and the referral to appropriate evidence-based interventions.

During childhood, a child is entitled to receive special care and assistance. The child’s best interest should be a primary objective. The Dutch government has an obligation to guarantee the children rights. But do the closed youth care accommodations meet the requirements as stated in the International Child Rights Convention, as far as deprivation of liberty and treatment under coercion are concerned? The study concluded that some closed youth care institutions do not meet the requirements as stated in the above mentioned Convention. There is often no possibility of free expression, physical complaints may not be taken seriously, an adequate standard of living is not always provided and the level of education is often too low. Most of the minors indicate that they are bored during their stay in the accommodations. On this basis, limiting the fundamental rights of these youngsters is currently surrounded with inadequate guarantees.

People vary in their perceptions and opinions, and that seems to be the case for the way they perceive anti-social behavior too. Scientific literature concerning the fear of crime hypothesizes diversity in the public’s perception of anti-social behavior and crime. But this fear of crime research tradition has been criticized repeatedly for its conceptual and methodological arrears. The focus has particularly been narrowed to ‘fear’ of ‘crime’, being measured by surveys. So, it is not very surprising that there has not been a thorough empirical focus on the assumed diversity in the perception of crime and anti-social behavior. To fill in this gap, the main research question in this article is: which differences in the perception of anti-social behavior exist within contemporary Dutch society? Using Q-methodology, five different factors were found in the perception of anti-social behavior. These factors have been labeled respectively: ‘disaffected residents’, ‘untroubled liberals’, ‘anxious communitarians’, ‘concerned spectators’ and ‘non-averse professionals’. These factors showed the empirical reality of the assumed diversity in the public perception of anti-social behavior. In all of these factors, people seem to address crime and anti-social behavior to a decrease of social standards and values in Dutch society, instead of worrying about chances and consequences of personal victimization. This was even the case for people who signalized crime and anti-social behavior in their own neighborhood. What really stands out is that people strongly agreed about the unacceptability of crime and anti-social behavior. People seem to have an aversion against these rude types of behavior. Altogether this image does not comply to the mainstream image of a ‘crime fearing society’. People do not seem to fear crime, but they seem to be worried and agitated about the moral conditions of the Dutch society in a wider framework. This might be a more reassuring illustration than a ‘crime fearing society’, but this proposition needs further and additional quantitative assessment.

Student requests for praying space are posing schools for important questions about their policy. These questions cannot be answered within the scope of relevant principles of law in the Netherlands. On the basis of religious studies research the author suggests that schools should respond to those questions with positive tolerance. Such a policy is most effective in promoting order and other educational objectives. However this tolerance should be bound to a responsibility of praying students towards the position of secular and moderate religious students.

The role of professionals in evidence-based crime prevention is a topic of discussion. The dominant view in the criminal justice field is that professionals are to support and faithfully execute evidence-based treatment programs based on risk factors for future crime. In other disciplines we find alternative approaches to evidence-based practice (EBP) in which the professionals, and more specifically features of the working alliance between professional and client, are considered to be the treatment program. In general, these approaches focus on treatment motivation and behavioural change. ‘Common factors’ like faith in outcome, trust between professional and client, et cetera, are considered as specific treatment factors. Empirical evidence shows that this may be a more fruitful approach towards effective interventions. The article looks into the scientific background of both perspectives and explains the key differences. It is concluded that EBP in criminal justice can gain from a (research) perspective in which professionals play a more central role.

The ideologies of community policing are central to the work of the Dutch police. The aim is to combine a focus on relations with the community with law enforcement, including the use of physical force. The balance has shifted, however, in favour of social relations. This article reports on the findings of a recent study among executive police officers. It is shown that the physical demands of police work are neglected in the selection and education of policemen and -women. Furthermore, there is a need for improving the training of standard procedures and interventions with respect to the use of physical force. In addition, it is found that a majority of the respondents feel that the use of force – in a correct way and in appropriate situations – is underappreciated by those in higher positions, while at the same time the issue of avoidance behaviour is not addressed.

This article is directed towards two important lines of research in contemporary criminology, more specifically the growing attention for the period of young adulthood and the focus on the concepts of ‘structure’ and ‘agency’. This study examines in a quantitative manner the extent to which both ‘structure’ (operationalized in terms of social-economic status and objective transitions) and ‘agency’ (measured as the perception of personal agency and subjective transitions) are related to delinquency in the period of young adulthood. A representative sample of 1,477 Flemish young adults between the age of 18 and 25 years is used. The results of the analyses offer some empirical proof to integrate the concept of ‘agency’ in future theoretical models for the explanation of individual differences in delinquency and also lead to additional suggestions to further examine the interaction between ‘structure’ and ‘agency’.

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.

Over the last 60 years, attention has been drawn periodically to offenders in different age categories, such as young children, adolescents and young adults, and tor services and programmes that should be available for these groups. In 2011, the State Secretary of Security and Justice proposed a penal law for adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 23. Such a proposal requires a (empirical) view of young adult offenders (aged 18 to 24) and the penal sanctions they receive in comparison with adolescent (aged 12 to 17) offenders and adults (aged 25 to 30). Crime statistics show that prevalence, type and seriousness of crime committed by young adults are different from that of adolescents and adults. Self-report studies show fewer and smaller differences, but this may be explained in part by the more serious nature of offences committed by young adults, which are usually not addressed in self-reports. Outcomes support the idea that a separate approach and specific interventions for young adults are needed. Similarities with adolescents with regard to neurobiological development justify a focus on a more pedagogical and behavioral approach, which is also a key feature of penal justice for juveniles.

Recently, a legislative proposal concerning adolescent criminal law is published. This proposal focuses on an offender-oriented approach towards youth risk and offers a coherent package of measures aiming at persons aged 15 to 23 and therefore aims to improve the flexibility in imposing sanctions around the age limit of 18 years. During the symposium of District Court Rotterdam of March 15, 2012, juvenile law experts commented on the proposal from different perspectives.

Since November 2009, the regional police of Groningen facilitated their community officers with Twitter. According to the principles of community policing, they are enabled to shorten the distance between the police and citizens by giving them a direct connection. Such a connection should stimulate interaction, while at the same time it should make people feel more safe. In addition, Twitter also creates possibilities for the police to be transparent. Sharing of information should alter citizens’ perception towards the police.
A comparison has been made, by using an online questionnaire, between followers and two kinds of non-followers. The effects of following twittering community officers have been demonstrated by using statistical analyses, taking into account relevant control variables. On the basis of these analyses it has been demonstrated that following a twittering community officer did not positively or negatively alter the perception of safety of their followers. However, an enhanced information position has made followers much more aware of local disorder and crime. Thanks to shared information about police actions to sustain and improve local safety and livability, followers’ perception of safety has not been altered negatively.
Followers’ perception towards the police organization has been positively altered, thanks to the twittering community officers. Especially the sharing of information and involving citizens into local policing helps the police to alter the perception of citizens towards their organization. In addition, it has been shown that followers’ willingness to report has been improved. Thanks to the ease of use of Twitter and the shortened distance between the police and citizens, followers do frequently contact the police or a community officer to share some information, or to report some crime or disorder. However, it has been shown that Twitter should just be presented as complementary to existing ways to contact the police.