Criminal groups have traditionally been the focus of criminological research because of the collective dimension of many criminal activities or deviance. However, what constitutes a ‘criminal group’ or how specific criminal groups, like gangs, should be defined, remains open for discussion in the scientific literature. This introductory article highlights a number of recent developments illustrating the blurring boundaries between various criminal groups as defined by both insiders and outsiders. In addition, it suggests that the rise of social media and smartphones is changing the structure and dynamics of criminal groups. Future research should focus on how these (new) criminal groups originate, develop and function, but should also address the role of the group in criminal activities.

This empirical study examines how criminal investigative police officers (re)construct a criminal case and the vulnerabilities of their logic.The investigation process is analyzed through Goffman’s framing and interaction theories. While Goffman’s theories have been widely applied to other disciplines, such contributions remain rare in criminology. Here, they shed light on how detectives understand and give meaning to the situation surrounding the criminal case they encounter. The results indicate that this approach shows promise for improving our understanding of the investigative process, if complemented by other theoretical views.

The spatial concentrations of crime are increasingly being studied in smaller units of analysis. This study examines the extent to which crime levels occur at micro places. Weisburd argues there is a law of crime concentration at micro places. His so-called ‘law of crime concentration at places’ states that within an urban context a limited bandwidth of micro places is associated with a specific cumulative proportion of crime (e.g. 25 or 50 percent of crime in a city). In this study the authors investigate Weisburd’s statement in regard to crime concentrations in two large Belgian cities. Official police crime statistics (PCS) for the period 2004-2012 were used. There are several ways to define and operationalize a micro place. Therefore, this study also examines whether the unit of analysis has implications for the concentration of crime at places. Analyses were conducted at two small levels, namely: grid level (using 200 meters by 200 meters grid cells) and the level of the statistical sector (more or less similar to four digit postcode areas or CBS-neighborhoods). This study shows that the concentrations of crime at grid cells are in line with the findings of Weisburd. This trend is consistent in time, for the types of crime as well as for the two cities involved. The concentrations of crime at the level of the statistical sector appear to be less strong and therefore are not in line with the law of crime concentration at places.

In this article notions from literature on covert and illegal networks are applied to business cartels. Comparable to most criminal networks, cartel participants need to communicate in order to coordinate their activities, whilst under the risk of getting caught. Previous studies however show cartels can remain hidden from outsiders for long periods of time. Based on an analysis of fourteen Dutch cartel cases, this article addresses the question how cartels can remain hidden from outsiders for long periods of time. The analysis shows cartel participants communicate predominantly centralized and frequent. Moreover, the results show that not concealment but social embeddedness provides a strong explanation for the longevity of secrecy regarding cartels.

Previous research showed that job applicants with a criminal record have lower chances of obtaining employment compared to job applicants with no criminal record. At the same time empirical studies showed that having a job is especially beneficial for ex-delinquents, as employment was found to lower recidivism. The current study uses an experimental design to look into the influence of a criminal record on employment chances. For this purpose, 520 resumes and motivation letters were sent in response to vacancies published on the internet. All were identical except for the stated offence type (no offence, violent offence, property offence, or sexual offence), duration between conviction and application, business sector and ethnicity of the applicant. Results show no effect for type of offence or no offence on employment chances. However, a strong effect is found for ethnicity. Ethnic minorities with no conviction were even found to have lower chances of receiving a positive reaction compared to applicants with a Dutch name and a conviction for a violent offence.