At the level of local government, preventive and repressive measures are used within an integrated- personalized-approach to prevent disturbing and criminal behaviour. This integrated approach is only possible when the professionals involved can share data of subjects in order to get good insight of the existing problems and to find possible solutions. The Startbaan study, which focused on the collaboration within such an integrated-approach on young adults with multiproblems and justice contacts, shows that privacy regulations are perceived as being obstructive by professionals. More knowledge about the GDPR, its legal bases and domain specific regulations is necessary for an integrated-approach.

Interprofessional collaboration in the treatment and supervision of clients in forensic mental health care is of great importance. However, collaboration between professionals within and between settings is not always easy. In this article, different forms of collaboration within the forensic mental health care system are described as well as the most important pitfalls and success factors. Finally, some recommendations are provided for practitioners, organizations and policy-makers to design and facilitate collaboration in forensic mental health care.

Issues regarding domestic violence and abuse of children are considered to be complex phenomena. Often ecological models are used in order to explain that on different levels – societal, group and individual – factors that are of influence. With some of these aspects can be dealt, while others are more complex to influence. In practice professionals with different disciplinary backgrounds need to collaborate in order to be of assistance to families in need. As a model for collaboration so-called Family Justice Centers (FJC) have been developed. This concept originated in the United States and is nowadays also adopted in Europe. In the Netherlands there is a lot of interest in these FJC’s. In this contribution the impression of two visits two FJC’s in neighboring region Flanders (Belgium) is described. What can we learn from their experiences? What are the challenges of international comparisons of forms of policies and collaborations regarding the care for families and children?

Professionals from various organisations within Dutch local governments are working together in an integrated-personalized-approach in order to prevent disturbing and criminal behavior in multi problem young adults. The Startbaan study, which focused on the collaboration within such local integrated-approaches, shows that multidisciplinary collaboration is hard to reach because of the amount and versatility of organisations involved as well as the complexity of problems in multi problem young adults. Results from the Startbaan study combined with findings from literature show that a functional mix of organizational conditions and specific professional abilities is needed in order to work together successfully.

Increasing digitization and datafication lead to an increasingly important role of data in our society and to changes in the way institutions work and decisions are made. Although it can lead to changes in the type of crime (e.g. cybercrime), datafication also facilitates shifts from visible and registered crime to crime that has not (yet) been measured and registered, like manifestations of organized crime. Analyzing so-called big data can help to recognize new forms of crime, predict risk factors, and decrease the dark number of these forms of crime.
In this study, we illustrate which indicators determine the stage of an industrial area regarding the occurrence of organized crime. Our supervised machine learning analysis shows that a number of indicators actually have predictive value for the degree of organized crime. These indicators could be used in the future to distinguish which industrial areas run an increased risk of organized and subversive crime.

Previously we have published an article about misunderstandings regarding trauma and PTSS. In this contribution we deal with other popular beliefs regarding trauma. We focus on trauma among professionals as a consequence of their work. It is explained that a professional does not have to witness violence or another severe case directly in order to develop some form of trauma. Next to that we focus on the misconception that professionals suffering from trauma can receive treatment without support of their loved ones and social network. It is explained that social support is not only relevant but necessary in treating trauma effectively.

Prison visitation is important for protecting against social isolation during imprisonment. It is also essential for maintaining contacts that are important for life in prison and after release. It is therefore not surprising that both nationally and internationally important policy measures and scientific research have been undertaken on the topic. Nationally, however, limited scientific research is available regarding how many, how often and from whom prisoners receive visits, how visits are experienced and the possible effects of visitation, thus leaving many questions unanswered. Meanwhile, in the past ten years great changes have been made to visitation in Dutch prison policy and practice. Given these recent developments, both scientists and practitioners could benefit from an overview of the current state of affairs of visitation. This article aims to bridge the gap between research, policy and practice by summarizing findings from the Life in Custody study. This study includes a description of how visitation is organized legally, at the policy level and in practice, a thorough review of prior research on visitation and an analysis of the most recent national data on the prevalence and frequency of visitation, while considering important differences between prisoners and prisons.

The relationship between debts and delinquency is still unclear and knowledge about the prevalence and scope of debts among delinquents, which is needed to systematically explore this relationship, is lacking. The present study contains a systematic and scoping literature review on this relationship and analyzed data from risk assessment and client files (N = 250) from the Dutch probation service. Results show that debt and crime are strongly related and that debts among probation clients are highly prevalent and complex and underline the importance of inquiring more knowledge about debts as a potential risk factor for relapse during supervision.

An exceptionally high prevalence of financial debt problems can be found among prisoners, but criminological knowledge on the link between debts and crime is limited. Previous studies are hindered by a lack of information on types of debts, informal debts and background characteristics. This article provides first and detailed insights in the types and amount of debts during and after prison in the Netherlands. Based on data from the Prison Project we show that the majority of prisoners report having debts during prison, show how different types of debts are related and how these debts change six months after release.

Joint reflection of practitioners and clients appears beneficiary for the effectiveness of their working alliance in, for instance, psychotherapy. This study aims to find out whether a similar beneficiary effect is experienced by practitioners and clients in probation supervision, a mandated setting. Over thirty dyads of Dutch probation officers and probationers participated into structured joint reflection, using the working alliance monitor, specifically designed for this purpose. The majority of probation officers reported the reflection as useful. Probationers reported a more mixed experience. Probationers with an intellectual disability more often needed help to understand the working alliance monitor.

Theater performance must make hard sides of police work open to discussion