In the 1980s there was a lot of discussion about whether monitoring special conditions should be a probation task, and whether this can be combined with offering help and assistance. The authors show that this discussion has been settled by introducing a specific knowledge base for probation work. They outline a number of important developments in recent decades: the focus on risk and the enforced framework, and the great influence of new technology. Nevertheless, an important basis for probation remains unchanged: the quality of the contact between probation officer and client.

Two major shifts in the Dutch policy have changed how social professionals work for migrants. These two refer to the change from a multicultural in an assimilation policy and a participative society where people are more dependent on their network or resilience for dealing with their needs. Based on our exploratory interviews with eight professionals and a focus group of six participants with a non-western cultural background we conclude that what migrants expect from social professionals and what they can offer do not match. It is due to contrasting views and cultural differences. This has a negative impact on their participation.

Incidents involving persons with ‘confused behavior’ are an important and topical theme in Dutch society. The police are often the first to be involved in these incidents because they are the only public organization that has a 24/7 presence on the streets. In 2019, the police registered 96,000 reports of persons who showed confused behavior. It is therefore not surprising that the police have repeatedly drawn political-administrative attention to this situation and indicated that the limits have been reached. That raises the question of how police officers deal with a situation that has actually grown above their heads in daily practice. In this research, based on the theory of street-level bureaucracy introduced by Lipsky, it was investigated how police officers in The Hague use their discretion to cope with this difficult reality.

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?

The Dutch police has noticed that in cases of honour-based violence often people are involved that might suffer from some form of trauma. Over the last years the police has dealt with cases from, for example, refugees that have fled from with war infected regions. Next to that, the road to the north of Europe was also involved with serious safety issues. Therefore the police works together with specialists in the treatment of trauma. In this article some frequently encountered misunderstandings about trauma are described, illustrated with cases of honour-based violence. The first misunderstanding is that all trauma is PTSS; the second is that PTSD explains all the mis happenings in an individual’s life; the third misunderstanding is that EMDR is the effective treatment for all sorts of trauma.

Cooperation by professionals dealing with cases of stalking by former partners is complex. First and foremost professionals should focus on a shared ambition in order to stop stalking. But in order to achieve that goal partners in safety and security should be in the clear regarding practical matters: how do they consult each other? What appointments are made? How is invested in the development of a mutual relationship and the understanding of each other’s tasks?

There is casuistry, where on the one hand it is the turn of the professionals from the investigation, enforcement and prosecution and on the other hand the turn of the social workers from the social domain. This is the case, for example, when domestic violence occurs in circles that are also involved in organized crime. In theory it is possible that the professionals involved work together, but it is also not impossible that they will get into each other’s waters because they have a different vision of the problem to be tackled and, of course, also have to fulfill other roles and tasks based on their positions. A professional must be able to handle complex situations of this kind.

While media coverage supports citizens in exercising their democratic rights, developments in the media have turned organizations into glass houses. In this article we investigate what media attention and subsequent public reactions after incidents mean for social professionals who work with the so-called ‘hard-to- reach’. We draw on a practical example, literature and interviews. Media attention turns out to affect the public image of organizations and professionals and consecutively alters the long term public judgment. This results in professionals feeling powerless, unrecognized and pressurized. Professionals adopt different strategies to deal with the effects of media attention: resignation, defensiveness, caution and organizational blame.

Prison staff is exposed to aggression of prisoners which evokes work stress. In forensic psychiatry risk management principles, such as the Risk-Needs-Responsivity-model (RNR), assist staff to manage aggression by means applying risk management strategies. The Early Recognition Method (ERM) is such an evidence based strategy, developed and tested in forensic psychiatry. In ERM, staff gradually try to attune to aggressive behavior by means of the identification of early warning signs of aggression and systematically evaluated these in predetermined intervals. In this article it is explained and discussed how ERM could be applied meaningfully in prison services.

In the Netherlands two experiments are conducted with a new kind of collaboration between probation and prosecution. The experiments aimed for the development of meaningful, contextual and tailor-made sanctioning. As a result, the experiments reached a new group of citizens that probation nor social services ever reached before, people who commit very light offenses, but struggle with heavy social problems. The new method of working resembles short intensive case management (hit and run) and includes commitment of social context and close collaboration with social work and care. Based on the results, probation and prosecution decided to implement this method in all Dutch regions and the Ministry of Safety and Justice adapted their financing structure.

Child safety is an important condition for the healthy development of children. Child maltreatment is an extensive problem in society with significant medical, emotional, cognitive, social and economic consequences. In policy-making, attention for this phenomenon has increased, resulting in new laws and measures. However, the Committee for Childs Rights of the United Nations formulated numerous recommendations for a better implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Netherlands. This article focuses on how child safety and children’s rights are related and explores the implementation of the convention, considering relevant new laws and scientific (field) research.

Restorative Justice could have a more extensive implementation within criminal justice if there was more restorative practice within probation work. This may also lead to more restorative mediation. This article is based on practice-based research on what is known about restorative practices within probation and how contextual therapy, developed by the Hungarian-American psychiatrist Ivan Böszörményi-Nagy, can contribute to this. The main conclusion is that contextual therapy can offer a currently non-existent framework that is needed to be able to work with restorative practices within probation. This article describes how contextual approaches can be useful for probation officers.

Although there is evidence for a victim-offender overlap for various crimes, specific empirical research into a victim-offender overlap for intimate partner violence is scarce. The current study empirically examines the presence of a victim-offender overlap among 156 victims of partner violence recruited at Dutch service organizations. Results show a clear victim-offender overlap, especially for behaviors of psychological partner violence and to a lesser degree for physical partner violence. Implications of these findings for the Dutch law on temporary restraining orders are discussed.

When a person commits a severe crime in the Netherlands, for which he cannot be (fully) held responsible because of a mental disorder, a judge may impose a hospital order in a secured psychiatric institution. To make this possible, behavioural experts have to assess whether the suspect suffered from a mental disorder at the time of the crime. However, during this assessment a suspect has the right to remain silent. Since recent years the number of non-cooperating suspects is increasing. To solve this problem, the Secretary of State of Security and Justice has submitted a legislative proposal, which makes it possible to force health professionals to submit past medical records of the suspect to the behavioural experts for their assessment without his consent. This breaches the professional law of confidentiality. Following case law of the European Court of Human Rights, this can only be justified, if it complies with the principles of proportionality, subsidiarity and necessity. The legislative proposal does not comply with these principles, as alternatives are available. These are: improvement of the forensic psychiatric care, reduction of the duration of the treatment and extension of the behavioral research period.

Victims of violent crime who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can request financial compensation from the Dutch Violent Offences Compensation Fund (VOCF). Problematic with this is that PTSD is amenable for malingering. Malingering involves the invention or exaggeration of psychological symptoms or the attribution of such symptoms to wrong causes. If malingered PTSD remains undetected, the VOCF will run the risk of compensating damages which do not exist. The literature suggests that malingering can be detected by focusing on extreme scores on symptom screeners. The results of the current study, however, seem to suggest that this may not be an adequate strategy.

In recent years, not only victims of serious crimes, but also their relatives received increased attention in criminal justice procedures. Victim Support Netherlands started a project in which paid professionals support surviving relatives of murdered victims. Through interviews and questionnaires, a group of 62 surviving relatives was followed for two to three years, to map out what their problems and needs are, how the case manager helped them and how they appreciated the help. Problems and needs include psychological, practical, social and legal matters. The appointment of a case manager appeared to be very valuable for the surviving relatives. Partly because of the case manager, they managed to get back to everyday life.

Animals appear to be increasingly incorporated in pet assisted activities and in pet assisted therapies in detention. But if one reviews the literature on these projects, it becomes clear that not much attention is being paid towards methodological issues. In this contribution, a set of questions is presented in order to help those that are interested in starting such a program to construct a more thoroughly thought through project. In such a project, animal welfare should be one of the key features.

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.