Since the publication of a special issue in TvC (the Dutch Journal of Criminology) on the spatial distribution of crime, about fifteen years ago, a vast number of developments have been observed in the field of social ecology and environmental criminology. During this period many studies have been undertaken in the Netherlands and Belgium. However, there still is room for progress, e.g. through the study of new contexts beyond the traditional boundaries of residential neighbourhoods and through the use of promising new methodologies and technological developments. This special issue provides some examples of such innovative research on environmental influences on crime. In this introductory article the authors provide an overview of the background of the theme, and discuss recent theoretical and methodological developments. They move on to discuss contemporary studies that have been carried out in the Netherlands and Belgium, and outline some desirable and necessary future developments. Finally, the authors provide the reader with an overview of the other contributions to this special issue.

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.

Felson introduced the concept of offender convergence settings in his articles on situational crime prevention. He refers to physical locations where criminals get together to relax, share information, fence stolen goods, plot new crimes, etc. Such places come in the form of restaurants and cafes that are in the hands of the ‘underworld’, but may equally well consist of deserted schoolyards where unruly adolescents gather. According to Felson, such settings facilitate the committing of crimes and enable the creation of structure and continuity in criminal networks.
In this article the authors argue that virtual meeting places also exist that can be labeled as offender convergence settings. To demonstrate this, a case study regarding a so-called ‘carding’ forum is used. Carding is a term from the world of cybercrime and refers to the set of techniques by which personal financial information is acquired, traded and abused by criminals. Through a qualitative and a quantitative analysis of the carding forum, the possibilities for cyber criminals to come into contact with each other, co-offending, and the durability of the criminal network is analyzed.

Criminological research on perceptions and behavior in an environmental context, scarcely uses virtual environments. Such virtual environments are available on the Internet or can be created. They can be presented to research participants either online or in a laboratory setting. This article gives a brief overview of criminological studies employing a virtual environment and describes a case study that used a virtual environment in order to investigate disorder. Despite the pitfalls, there are certainly possibilities for (criminological) research in virtual environments. The spatial context provided by a virtual environment, seems suitable for research in environmental criminology in particular.

In the Netherlands, not much research has been done on the ways that Dutch women experience and try to survive a detention abroad. The research, on which this article is based, did focus on Dutch female prisoners abroad, using an ethnographic research method. This study looks at the ways Dutch mulas experience their prison term in Peru and focuses on their strategies of survival. The ways these women react upon their detention can be traced back to existing literature on the importation theory and deprivation theory. Also it became apparent that various coping strategies are used to survive their Peruvian imprisonment. These coping strategies proof to be related to the life experiences of the women (importation theory) and the experienced prison environment (deprivation theory).

In October 2010 squatting in the Netherlands was prohibited by law. This timing seems strange, because, in the 80s, the squatters’ movement had its heyday, with many very violent confrontations with police. Isn’t it strange that squatting is prohibited now the movement has shrunk and lost much of its significance? We investigate this criminalization of squatting by describing the rise and decline of the movement similar to the turning tide. Based on literature, media reports and our own research data, we demonstrate that the power of the parties in this process is reflected by frames, reasoning and the language they use, and by their position in the media.

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’.

Much of developmental and life course criminological research addresses either the onset and escalation of antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence, or the desistance from crime during the adult years. Far less attention has been paid to the years in which adolescents first make the transition to adulthood. Over the last 50 years due to increased educational demands this transition period has become prolonged and increasingly deinstitutionalized, resulting in a new life stage denoted as the emerging adult period. This introductory paper describes the ways in which this newly formed life stage between ages 18 and 28 is relevant for criminology, questions our knowledge on criminal career development during this period and explores new research avenues that may contribute to a full-fledged criminology of the emerging adulthood.

The link between being employed and delinquent behaviour is complex. This article examines to what extent having a job, the commitment to that job and the future prospects of that job are related to delinquency. We use data from the Utrecht Study of Adolescent Development (USAD), a six-year, three-wave longitudinal study, pertaining to a general population sample of 669 young adults between the ages of 18 and 28. Having a job is associated with an increase in delinquency for 18 and 19 year old males. The results for subsequent ages show a trend towards a delinquency decreasing effect at subsequent ages. The effect of work characteristics – commitment, future prospects – is less clear.

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.

Research demonstrates moderate detrimental effects of lead and human health. Interesting from a criminological point of view is the association between lead and delinquent, criminal and aggressive behaviour. In this paper the possible causality of this association will be discussed.

The number of homicides in the Netherlands has been stable for some time but decreased over the last few years. The aim of this study is first, to describe the recent trends in homicide in the Netherlands. Second, we aim to explain the reasons for this recent drop in homicide by using data from the Dutch Homicide Monitor that includes all homicides in the period 1992-2009. Findings suggest that the drop in homicide could be explained by a combination of factors, including change in situational characteristics, change in social cohesion and change in the degree of economic deprivation.