Crises and disasters can seriously affect the health, well-being and functioning of the people involved. From a governance perspective, it is important that public leaders and crisis managers are aware of what the psychosocial dimension of crisis management entails. The objective of the current contribution is to analyse dilemmas and challenges described in evaluations of crises that occurred in the Netherlands between 2012 and 2016. Thirty-six evaluations were analysed against the background of a theoretical framework combining crisis leadership tasks and psychosocial support principles along the crisis life cycle. Public leaders and crisis managers had to deal with classical crisis problems concerning coordination, collaboration and communication. Other recurring themes were linked to social media, and the tension between tasks such as meaning making (social recognition), account giving and learning. Moreover, the analysis illustrates how difficult it is to gain insight into the needs, problems and vulnerabilities of the individuals and groups affected.

Intimate partner homicide (IPH) constitutes one of the most prevalent types of homicide. This study aims to assess the nature and prevalence of intimate partner homicide in the Netherlands in the period 2009-2014. In doing so, we make use of police data, court data, and media articles. Findings show that IPH occurs 29 times per year, resulting in a victimization rate of 0.20 per 100,000, similar to other Western-European countries. Our results further show a decline in IPH in the last years. IPH in the Netherlands mostly occurs in heterosexual relationships, and involves male perpetrators and female victims. Finally, we reflect on possible causes for the decline of this type of homicide.

Following a crisis, questions are often raised about how this crisis could have happened and whether someone is to be blamed for the crisis or its bad management. The blame game can become fierce as actors try to avoid, shift or mitigate blame in order to stay in office. In 2014, a festival took place in Haaksbergen where a monster truck drove into the audience, killing three people and injuring many others. Not enough safety measures had been taken to prevent the tragedy. Many actors were to blame for that, including the local authority which had granted the permit. Other actors blamed for the events were the mayor, the monster truck driver, and the organization organizing the festival. In the end, the mayor of Haaksbergen resigned. Instead of becoming more accommodative in his response as his blame levels increased, the mayor continued to be quite defensive, stating that the permit would be granted again – even with today’s knowledge. As one council member stated it, one cannot defend something which cannot be defended.

Professionals dealing with crises are more or less forced to a next level of crisis communication and crisis management. This is because of the influence of social media. Messages on Twitter, Facebook and other social media can have a significant impact on the course of developments during a crisis. Sometimes in a positive way, when help is mobilized quickly and people can be informed almost instantly. On other occasions the impact is more negative, when for instance rumors lead to false accusations or threats. In the past several years, crisis management authorities have built up more experience with the use and application of social media and monitoring tools. There are still cases where officials and professionals are taken by surprise because of the shift stream of messages and their impact on public opinion and crisis control. But also lessons have been learned, e.g. in terms of online and offline reactions, cooperation with the public, and rumor control.
This article gives an overview of research results in literature and summarizes the outcomes of a case study research project.

An explicit goal in the Dutch victim policy is to offer protection to victims of crime. Based on a EU Directive all member states shall ensure that victims receive a timely and individual assessment, to identify specific protection needs. In this paper the question is: which victims especially do need protection? More specific, it examines whether the victim-offender relationship, controlling for the confounders ‘type of crime’ and ‘gender of the victim’, contributes to the extent in which protection is a reason for reporting crimes to the police. For victims of domestic violence (by partners, ex-partners and (other) family members), the need for protection is an important reason for reporting – not just for women and girls, but also for men and boys. The need for protection is an important reason for reporting for victims by partners, ex-partners and (other) family members of non-violent as well as violent crimes.

Child homicide is a phenomenon that not infrequently leads to shock and societal unrest. However, the precise nature and scope of child homicide in the Netherlands remains unknown. This article attempts to fill the gap in our current knowledge by reporting descriptive research on child homicide in the Netherlands in the period 2009-2014. Further, this article aims to assess if media attention regarding child homicide brings about a so-called copycat-effect. By means of descriptive statistics, case, victim and perpetrator characteristics of 74 cases of filicide are assessed.

In the Dutch health care the importance of reporting adverse events is increasingly recognized. Reporting adverse events is seen as a valuable instrument to assess and improve the quality and safety of patient care. It is widely acknowledged that health care practitioners (physicians, nurses) should be able to report adverse events blame free, to prevent that information reported to improve the quality and safety of care is used for other purposes (e.g. to punish the reporter of other persons involved). Several parties have proposed to enact legislation to protect health care practitioners who report adverse events. In other sectors of the Dutch society, as well as in other countries, such legislation already exists. This legislation may serve as an example for legislative action in the area of Dutch health care.