The structural vulnerability of the port of Rotterdam to organized crime is dealt with in this article from a broader, historical perspective. Using examples from ports in Italy and the United States, among others, the author shows how at the end of the last century local criminal groups managed to gain a dominant position in the handling of good flows. The author discusses various research reports that have been published over the years on the import of drugs into the port of Rotterdam and other European ports. Drug traffickers turn out to respond very flexible to stricter controls by simply moving to alternative ports or opting for transferring drug loads to small fast boats in open water. The author emphasizes that ports should not be studied as isolated transition points, but must be considered as nodes in networks that extend far inland and abroad. This is the only way to see the broader strategic and tactical options for stopping or reducing drug trafficking. In addition, attention must be paid to the problem of corruption among port workers, police and customs officers.

This study investigates the strategies people themselves use to deal with situations in which they fear crime. The authors see people as social agents who hold agency and (also) manage their own safety, instead of viewing people as powerless victims. Previous studies have emphasized people’s agency, often through a focus on avoiding dangerous spaces. Building on insights from the fear of crime literature that approaches fear of crime as situational, the authors illustrate how spaces in which people worry about crime can also be transformed (through action) into safe(r) spaces. The article focuses on the context of urban nightlife areas. Thirty students living in Utrecht, the Netherlands were interviewed. Results show that students perform a range of strategies to cope with their fear, including situational avoidance, arranging companionship, increasing alertness, and reasoning. In the discussion the authors reflect on how the application of such strategies is related to (erosion of) ‘mobility’ and individual freedom of movement.

The aim of this article is to search for a more focused approach of fighting back against ‘the fear of crime’. It is based on a study of the backgrounds of risen levels of fear of crime in twelve neighborhoods in the regions of Utrecht and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Eight central themes could be identified in the stories of 240 respondents: specific locations, avoidance behavior, social stability, social quality, superdiversity, negative neighborhood images, burglary, and societal pessimism. Despite the fact that these central themes appeared in the overall analysis, every neighborhood showed another mix of factors explaining risen levels of fear of crime. This means that policies to reduce ‘the fear of crime’ should focus on specific, local explanations and should always be tailor-made.

In the Netherlands, the number of criminal record screenings performed each year skyrocketed to more than one million. Yet, empirical evidence on its effects has been largely absent. In this article the author addresses parts of the findings of her PhD research, which aimed to fill this gap, by providing a subjective perspective of how having a criminal record impacts the process of re-entry into society, particularly into the labor market, for young adults. It is based on the lived experiences of 31 young adults having a criminal record who were followed during their process of reintegration into the labor market. The vivid, real-life stories of young adults’ strategies of dealing with the stigma of a criminal record, and how this subsequently influences their position in the labor market, highlight the counterproductive effects of increasingly widespread criminal record screening. They provide evidence that many young adults adopt self-exclusion as a strategy for avoiding rejection and exclusion.

Since intelligence and espionage are so secret by nature, discussing it proves to be rather difficult. Debates about intelligence therefore tend to be fought with metaphors. Using Johnson’s and Lakoff’s idea that metaphors provide conceptual frameworks and thus have real-world effects, as well as Butler’s idea of performative power, this article has explored the most widely used metaphors in Dutch intelligence history. The Dutch security services have been depicted, in a wide variety of images, broadly as remnants of the past (ruins or ‘anachronisms’), as spies on wooden shoes, as a stowaway of democracy, and as a state within the state. Since the civil servants and politicians almost always felt the need to respond to these metaphors, by providing explanation, nuance, and facts – or by introducing a competing metaphor – it is argued that these metaphors have real-world effects, showing how the security service was positioned in politics and society.

This article compares criminal investigations and judicial research to intelligence research. Criminal investigations and judicial research focus on evidence and prosecution, while intelligence researchers don’t want to overlook any threats. Methodologically speaking: criminal investigations and judicial research focus on keeping a low α value, intelligence focusses on keeping a low ß value. This ß oriented research should lead to drastically different research design. ß-oriented research is a quest for the unknowns. Possible threats need to be neutralized, most of the times without a judicial review (by a judge). This absence of review, in combination with the additional special powers laid down in the revised Intelligence and Security Services Acts, should be reason for adjustment of the oversight.

Alcohol use and adolescents: they are inevitably connected. At least, this was the case up until the early 2000s in the Netherlands. After a peak in the prevalence of alcohol use in 2003, the percentage of adolescents in the Netherlands who drank alcohol decreased enormously. This decline co-occurs with a dramatic shift in sociocultural norms on adolescent alcohol use among parents. Since the peak in 2003, a variety of national and local prevention and intervention programs have been implemented, aiming to stimulate parents to adopt stricter parenting practices related to the alcohol use of their child. In other Western countries, however, similar decreases in adolescent alcohol use have been observed. On the basis of recent societal developments, the authors describe potential explanations for the observed declines. Moreover, they discuss how youngsters actively create peer contexts in which behaviors like alcohol use take place.

Visual research methods aren’t magic. Yet, they do work. In this article, different reasons and methods are described, based on the author’s own experiences as well as on the literature. Visual methods refer to the visual as a data source, employing visuals in the data collection or using visuals when presenting and expressing social scientific knowledge. The reasons to use visual methods can be divided into two broad categories. First, visual methods enhance the data and the data collection and second, they can facilitate the participation of and collaboration with research participants. Examples of visual methods are presented, such as the use of photographs in interviews as well as some dilemmas a researcher (similar to legal professionals) can face when employing them. Visual methods are still developing, and the author concludes that there’s still a lot to learn.

The arrival of asylum seekers has become a major political and social issue in Europe recently, although not for the first time in history. This article describes and analyses the reasons why growing numbers of undocumented migrants come to Europe, many of them as asylum seekers. One important reason is growing political instability in a ring of countries that surround the EU. The article also describes the different routes undocumented migrants take to the EU, the rapid changes that occur in the choice of routes, and the backgrounds of these changes. Although most attention goes to the risky transit in the Central Mediterranean area, and the number of migrants taking this route is growing, a majority of asylum seekers has reached the EU via other routes. Finally, this article also indicates roads towards finding solutions to the issue; this can only be achieved in the context of the EU.

This article focuses on ‘culture’ as a concept currently dominating the approach towards Roma and Sinti, in policies and public opinion in the Netherlands and probably in Europe too. The author argues that a culture-sensitive approach is useful indeed, but a fixation on culture leads into a dead end street – especially in the static way in which it is (implicitly) conceptualised. Explaining some traditional Roma habits and values, the author describes examples of everyday life in Roman communities, as well as some lively debates among Roma and Sinti insiders. It is important that the complexity and dynamics of Roma culture are recognised and that outsiders stop defining what Roma culture ‘is’. Instead, recognising the differences between communities as well as the reality of changing norms and values will provide a breeding ground for finding a healthy balance between authenticity and adjustment.

In this article, the author defends two propositions related to the concepts of free will and criminal responsibility. Free will is defined as the capability of distancing oneself from one’s immediate surroundings and reflect on impulses. The first proposition is that it is a mistake to suppose – as do many neuroscientists adhering to objectivist theories on the human mind – that the concept of free will refers to a postulated natural phenomenon, the existence of which could, in principle, be established or falsified. Instead, the concept of free will constitutes a practice; it is a human artefact that is part and parcel of the differing means by which mankind structures intersubjective life. The second proposition is that the criminal law legitimately presupposes that persons normally act out of free will and that they, consequently, are morally responsible and accountable for the wrongful actions they perform. The author claims that his arguments for both propositions are supported by insights from the neuroscientific fields of connectionism and embodied cognition.

This is a review of the book (dissertation) Orde in veiligheid. Een dynamisch perspectief (Order in security; a dynamic perspective) from the Dutch criminologist and philosopher Marc Schuilenburg. The reviewer characterises the book as ‘courageous’ because of its multidisciplinary approach of the phenomenon ‘public private partnerships’ (ppp’s) in security, its rupture with solidified thinking and its use of empirical studies to show what really happens in the workplace of ppp’s. The reviewer welcomes the application of concepts of the French philosophers Foucault, Deleuze and Tarde, but feels at the same time that the author could have done more to explain their thinking. Also he disagrees with the author about the role of the state in security governance, which is according to the reviewer much more dominant than suggested in this book.

The relationship between group workers and their pupils in a youth prison influences treatment outcome. A positive relationship stimulates treatment motivation and readiness for change. The aim of this study was to review the role of hope in a correctional institutional setting for youth. Hope is defined as having a goal and a positive outcome expectation. Hope keeps group workers positive, motivated and inspired to overcome difficulties, and the hope of group workers stimulates pupils to openly reflect on the past, reconsider future possibilities, and become motivated to change their behaviour. There are obstacles, however, which hamper the hope of group workers and may instead trigger negative expectations, cynicism, and despair. Key elements for dealing with potential negative influences on a hopeful orientation are leadership and training. Also conscious reflection on one’s acts, thoughts and feelings can help group workers to deal with resistance reactions and aggression, and to remain hopeful.

The introduction and fast growing popularity of electronic dance music has strongly influenced the spread of so-called party drugs in Amsterdam. Trends in substances use in Amsterdam's nightlife have been monitored systematically with ‘Antenna’, combining qualitative and quantitative methods. Ecstasy remained the most popular stimulant drug, but since the late 1990s it had to compete with cocaine, and to a lesser extent with amphetamine. In the past decade, GHB and ketamine also gained popularity among clubbers and pub-goers. However, the vast majority does not take illicit drugs while going out at night. Alcohol remains by far the most popular substance, and has become even more important in the past decade.

In recent decades the night-time economy has started to play a significant role in city centre regeneration; it has become a vital element of the urban economy, as well as a marketing tool in the competition between cities. Concerns about personal safety and fear of crime determine to a large extent the success of these nightlife districts. Based on an analysis of policy documents, night-time observations and expert interviews with stakeholders in the Safe Nightlife Programmes of Rotterdam and Utrecht, different local safety measures and their legitimizations in different local urban settings will be analysed. The question raised is how surveillance measures in different nightlife districts are legitimized, taking into account the fact that cities' nightlife districts do not only need to be safe, but are also favoured by its visitors for adventure and excitement. What are the social implications of these surveillance measures and what does this mean for the character of cities' nightlife districts?

Not everyone using alcohol turns aggressive. The effect of a substance like alcohol works differently for different individuals. This is not only due to the substance itself, but also to the drinker's attitude, state of mind and personality, as well as the physical, social and cultural settings in which drinking occurs. The relation between alcohol consumption and aggression is therefore a complex one. Moreover alcohol consumption often takes place in settings and situations where other aggression stimulating factors are present. This article explores the relation between alcohol and aggression on the basis of existing literature. Attention goes to the effects of the substance itself, the drinker and the context in which the drinking takes place.

The central question of this article is how situational crime prevention (SCP) might be of help in preventing terrorism. Newman and Clarke's Policing Terrorism is confronted with investigations by the Dutch National Crime Squad, leading to the conclusion that Newman and Clarke have too narrow a scope on policing and preventing terrorism, in particular where it comes to the role of criminal investigation, which they narrow down to the phases immediately before and after a terrorist attack. Case files show that offender-oriented criminal investigation has a central role in the prevention of terrorism in several respects. First, criminal investigators intervene in earlier phases of terrorist preparation. Second, counter-terrorism targets a wide range of terrorist offences (e.g. terrorist financing and jihad travel) which often have no direct link to a terrorist assault plan. ‘Proactive repression’ seems an adequate term to characterise the preventive work of criminal investigators in this field. In turn, this work offers insights that might be of help in developing an SCP-approach to terrorism. Such an approach should start with recognizing that there is a diversity of terrorist offences and that each offence demands a crime specific script.