De transactie met ING was een van de meest opvallende gebeurtenissen in de sfeer van het bijzonder strafrecht en de strijd tegen financieel-economische criminaliteit van het afgelopen jaar. Dit artikel bespreekt verschillende redenen waarom dit een belangrijke casus is. Naast de hoogte van het bedrag en de onderliggende criminaliteit, gaat dit artikel in op het strafrechtelijk aansprakelijk stellen van systeembanken en de te verwachten effectiviteit van verbetering van compliancemanagement als transactievoorwaarde.

Investigative reporters show an increasing interest in criminal phenomena. Dutch journalists may be allowed access to ongoing police investigations on the condition that they comply with data protection legislation. Working in international cooperative projects, using sophisticated research tools and hot sources, journalists by themselves also manage to uncover hidden crimes that may prompt indictments. The article explores possibilities of future collaboration between criminal investigators and reporters, while acknowledging each other’s professional roles and responsibilities.

Criminological literature shows that criminals involved in organized crime benefit from positive images in the media. By opening a hospital or donating funds for the development of a football field they try to present themselves in a cordial way and as good citizens to the public. Using the media to present themselves as animal lovers is a very effective manner to go for public admiration and sympathy. In this contribution is investigated how this mechanism works and why it is so effective.

The most recent extensive study on political and administrative corruption in The Netherlands dates back to 2005 (Huberts & Nelen, 2005). Afterwards various studies have been conducted on related subthemes and areas. In this contribution, the state of affairs regarding political and administrative corruption – and the responses to them – in The Netherlands in 2018 is described, based on the results of these studies. Starting with an overview of the nature and severity of political and administrative corruption, the focus shifts to relevant developments in the control and prevention of corruption, partly addressing the causes of the phenomenon.

Unlike criminal career research into the criminal behavior of natural persons, longitudinal research into rule violations by corporations is still scant. The few available studies are mostly limited to US corporations, and suffer from either a small sample size or a short follow-up period, limiting the generalizability of their findings. The present study uses longitudinal data on rule violating behavior of 494 Dutch chemical corporations derived from yearly inspections (N=4.367) of the relevant safety and environmental agencies between 2006 and 2017. The study aims to gain insight in the patterning of rule violations by Dutch chemical corporations, and the extent to which these patterns are associated with sector and corporate characteristics. The results show that rule violation is common among Dutch chemical corporations. A small minority of chronically violating corporations however, is responsible for a disproportional share of all observed rule violations. Using group-based trajectory modelling (GBTM) we distinguish several longitudinal patterns of rule violations in our data. Available sector and corporation characteristics are only weakly associated with the patterns of rule violations identified.

In this introductory article we will discuss some of the recent developments in corporate crime research in the Netherlands and Belgium since 2008. In doing so, we will answer the following three questions: (1) What are the most important developments in the way research on corporate crime has been carried out? (2) What are key themes in corporate crime research? (3) What are the most important blind spots in research into corporate crime? We will conclude with some avenues for future research on corporate crime and its enforcement.

Similar to the more current Regulator Intermediary Target (RIT) model, Griffiths’ Social Working (SW) theory points to the relevance of intermediaries for explaining rule following behavior. In this article, the author applies both theories (RIT and SW) concerning the role of intermediaries in rule following to explain developments in Dutch prostitution policy: the non-implementation of the emancipatory, sex workers’ rights based approach, and its replacement by a more repressive policy of closing down sex facilities. The analysis shows that although both theories contain useful starting point for explaining these developments, the SW theory’s special value is its acknowledgement of how regulatory intermediaries operate in a social field with existing social rules and a specific balance of power. Such rules and power relations have put barriers to the implementation of the Dutch prostitution policy as formulated in 1999. As illustrated in the article, the SW- theory offers more tools than the RIT- model for an analysis of how legal rules work in practice.

In this article, Cannabis Social Clubs (CSCs) are understood as being social movement organizations advocating for the legalization of a closed, cooperative and non-profit model for cannabis supply among adult users. Drawing on qualitative data collected in Belgium, this paper analyses how one becomes a leader of a CSC as well as the functional role assumed by those individuals. It further unveils how Belgian CSC leaders’ engagement in those organizations and in the wider cannabis movement is perceived. We identify and discuss the techniques employed by those key activists to manage cannabis-related stigma drawing on a framework developed by Lindblom and Jacobsson’s (2014). While CSCs might contribute to normalizing cannabis use and supply, our analysis suggests that CSC leaders face some degree of stigmatization, shifting between conformist and confrontational techniques to manage the perceived cannabis-related stigma. Building on the case of Belgian CSC leaders, this paper makes a contribution to the understanding of an under-researched movement, and the role of the leaders within it, expanding also the application of Lindblom and Jacobsson’s (2014) framework to a novel area of activism.

According to Dutch law, investigating officers have to comply with a so-called ban on passage of people, in cases of concrete ‘knowledge’ about human smuggling, making intervention obligatory (in order to protect smuggled migrants). Nevertheless, a formal exception procedure is possible if non-intervention would be in the interest of the investigation. This exception procedure, however, is not used in practice. Based on interviews with investigating officers, this paper concludes that protection of smuggled migrants is a very important aim as such, that ‘knowledge’ is a complex concept as it is not always very concrete, that making this ‘knowledge’ more concrete depends on actual investigative efforts, and that – if this information is concrete – there are various ways in which interventions can take place that do not jeopardize the aims of the investigation.

Since the 1970s social integration of the police has been considered as a key element of the Dutch police. This article focusses on the question of the relevance of social integration of the contemporary police. The article is based on interviews with present and former strategic leaders of the Dutch police. This study shows that social integration is still often considered to be a highly important value for the Dutch police, particularly with regard to the growing polarisation in society. However, some of the police chiefs also express their disapproval of the concept of social integration; in their view the concept reminds us of the past. Also, police chiefs are critical of the value of the concept because of its supposed geographical focus. The paper shows that this criticism can be understood as an interpretation of social integration in terms of ‘neighbourhood policing’ and as an operational police strategy.

In this article we analyze how organized crime offenders use IT to handle their money flows. How and to what extent do offenders use IT-facilitated possibilities, such as bitcoin, to launder their money? The empirical data consist of thirty large-scale police investigations. These thirty cases are part of the Organized Crime Monitor, an ongoing research project into the nature of organized crime in the Netherlands. One of the most striking findings is the fact that cash is still king – even for online drug dealers who get paid in digital currencies.

The emergence of Dark Web child pornography forums and their availability to large offender communities has enabled a professional form of child pornography distribution as well as an increased exchange of criminal and social capital. Offenders have access to a new platform in which strong ties and long-lasting relationships with co-offenders are formed. Moreover they could be classified as organized crime, because child pornography Dark Web forums are characterized by a hierarchical order, a clear role division and illegal power structures that regulate the illegal activities. The implications from a law enforcement as well as from scientific perspective are discussed.

Botnets, banking malware and other high-tech crimes are increasingly analyzed by criminological scholars. Their distributed and automated nature poses however various theoretical challenges. This article presents an alternative approach, denoted as the ‘cyborg crime’ perspective, which adopts a more hybrid view of networks and also assigns an active role to technology. The value of this approach is demonstrated by reflecting on findings from earlier empirical work that analyzes conversations between cybercriminals involved in botnets and related activities. The research shows that technological nodes can take an important position in the organizational structure of cybercriminal networks and do not merely have a functional role. Viewing technology as an actor within a criminal network might offer new criminological insights in both the composition of these networks and how to disrupt them.

Worldwide, the digitalization of society is proceeding rapidly and this brings new forms of crime. The threats arising from different types of cybercrime are real and constantly evolving, as the internet with its anonymity and borderless reach, provides new opportunities for criminal activities. This article describes some results from an international empirical study aimed to gather more insight on the link between cybercrime and organized crime as well as on the question whether cybercrime is organized. It shows how cybercriminals cooperate with each other and what this organization structure looks like.

The Dutch Judiciary has only a very limited role in the imposition of sanctions with traffic offenses. With other minor offenses its role is rather limited and has decreased. There has been a striking shift from the imposition of penal sanctions to sanctions based on administrative law in this area. With major offenses (crimes) the role of the judiciary is still significant and has not diminished over the last 20 years. This despite policy efforts to boost out of court sanctioning.
The Judiciary is a fundamental pillar of the rule of law. It offers legal protection, by judging and, if necessary, penalizing violations of norms in a fair trial. In this way not only justice is done with individual cases. Case law has wider implications: confirmation and development of norms and thus general prevention. To fulfil this aim a certain volume of cases and openness of the judgment process is necessary.

Hoeveel gevaar voor de openbare orde moet een gastlidstaat tolereren van een langdurig gevestigde Unieburger en zijn familie? Artikel 28 Richtlijn 2004/38/EG beoogt aan gevestigden een hogere bescherming tegen uitzetting te geven. Volgens de considerans (overweging 24) moet bescherming tegen verwijdering sterker zijn naarmate de Unieburger en zijn familieleden beter in het gastland geïntegreerd zijn. Als zij vele jaren op het grondgebied van het gastland hebben verbleven, zeker wanneer zij daar geboren zijn en er hun hele leven hebben gewoond, mogen verwijderingsmaatregelen slechts onder uitzonderlijke omstandigheden worden genomen. Artikel 28 heeft geleid tot nogal wat jurisprudentiële verwarring. Van extra bescherming blijkt nauwelijks sprake te zijn.
HvJ 17 april 2018, gevoegde zaken C-316/16, B., en C-424/16, Vomero, ECLI:EU:C:2018:256