Honour-related emotions such as shame, guilt, anger, distrust and pride play a critical role in regulating the response to a traumatic event and the severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Crimes with the intent to cause harm to a person include, to a greater or lesser extent, a component to overpower and humiliate. Such traumatic experiences can, especially in more collectivist cultures, lead to a complex mix of posttraumatic guilt and shame. In order to restore honour, posttraumatic shame or guilt can lead to violence. Together with posttraumatic stress symptoms such as flashbacks and hyperarousal it may even lead to excessive violence.

For several years the Netherlands has been facing group violence around football matches and other recreational events. Offenders involved may be characterized as notorious troublemakers, incidental offenders or ‘new hooligans’. Notorious troublemakers and new hooligans actively look for risky situations. Their behavior is related to both contextual factors and individual predispositions. In contrast incidental offenders get involved in public disorder only due to a combination of circumstances. (Individual) disruptive behavior during public disorder therefore has different underlying causes. A combination of a person-centered approach, early identification of potential notorious troublemakers and situational prevention measures are important pillars for future policy and police practice.

Several reports and publications criticise the Dutch police for discriminating against minorities during stop-and-search actions. This article argues that discrimination can be found in the police but not to the extent that the critics suggest. Recent research on stop-and-search practices in a large Dutch city suggests that the police treat youth with a minority background differently but that they don’t treat them unequally. The article concludes with a warning against the use of the expression ethnic profiling, because it hinders correction of discrimination by the police.