Two explanations can be found for the unequal geographical concentrations of avoidance behaviour: (1) the demographic composition of residential areas, and (2) the social and structural contextual effects of residential areas. Different studies all over the world have shown that women report more fear of crime than men. In this article we study contextual as well as individual determinants of avoidance behaviour for men and women separately to gain a better insight in the explanation of individual differences in avoidance behaviour. The theoretical framework of this study is derived from the collective efficacy theory. In the present study a contextual model was tested on a 2009 survey of 2,080 residents from 40 municipalities in Flanders (Belgium), by using block-wise multilevel analyses on data from the Social Cohesion Indicators in Flanders Survey (SCIF-survey), the Security Monitor and the registered crime statistics. The results indicate that economic disadvantage in the residential area increases the risk on avoidance behaviour both for men and women, because these areas often have high disorder and violent crime rates. With regard to the social ecology of crime this study shows that more research is needed on the differences in contextual effects of structural area characteristics on avoidance behaviour.

Consumer fraud seems to be widespread, yet little research is devoted to understanding why certain social groups are more vulnerable to this type of victimization than others. The present paper deals with internet consumer fraud victimization, and uses an explanatory model that combines insights from self control theory and routine activity theory. The results from large-scale victimization survey data among the Dutch general population (N=6,201) reveal that people with low self-control run substantially higher victimization risk, as well as people performing ‘risky’ routine activities, such as online shopping and participation in online forums. Though a minority share of the self-control-victimization link is indirect – because people with low self-control are more involved in risk-enhancing routine activities – a large direct effect on internet fraud victimization remains. This suggests that, within similar situations, people with poor impulse control respond differently to deceptive online commercial offers.

Na veertig jaar heeft de Hoge Raad zich opnieuw uitgesproken over het antwoord op de vraag of een uitkering op grond van een sommenverzekering bij letselschade moet worden verrekend of niet. Het meest recente arrest daarover dateert uit 1969. Het arrest van 1 oktober 2010 verdient bespreking, omdat het (veel) meer richting geeft aan de discussie, of en zo ja, in hoeverre een uitkering uit hoofde van een sommenverzekering bij letselschade voor verrekening in aanmerking komt en wat dat voor invloed heeft op voor die verzekering in de loop der tijd betaalde premie.

In this article the strategies and investigation results of the Social Intelligence and Investigation Service (SIOD) concerning labour exploitation are discussed. The results from reactive criminal investigation confirm current ideas in the literature about labour exploitation in relation to vulnerable (victim) groups. However, an increase in reports did not lead to more investigations. This is partly caused by bad or incomplete reports. Therefore the SIOD is in addition developing a new approach: the labour exploitation risk model. This method fits into the idea of Intelligence-Led Policing and tackles the problem that many exploitation cases are not reported to the police. In a risk model enterprises and employers with a (high) risk of violations are selected for control or investigation on the basis of particular characteristics generated from various information databases of various (government) agencies. The authors discuss the further development of the risk model and conclude with a look ahead.

Illegal activities like smuggling, prostitution and the production and sales of illicit drugs contribute to the national income of a country. In practice, however, they are not included in the statistics, because reliable estimates of the size of these activities hardly exist. Recently Statistics Netherlands started research into the share of illegal activities in the national income. This article presents the first estimates for the production and trade of illicit drugs. The total contribution of illicit drugs to the national income of the Netherlands ranges from € 1,300 million in 1995 to almost € 1,800 million in 1998 to 1,200 million in 2008. This is equal to approximately 0.45% of the national income in the 1990s to about 0.2% in 2008. The main reasons for this decrease are the decrease in the prices for drugs, the deterioration of terms of trade and the increase in international competition, especially for xtc and amphetamines.

‘Informal economy’ is a controversial concept defined in many different ways. This is reflected in the amount of synonyms, such as shadow economy, parallel economy, hidden economy, black economy etcetera. On the international level the concept of the informal sector was first used in 1972 by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in its report on a mission to Kenya. The popular view of informal sector activities was that they are primarily those of petty traders, street hawkers, shoeshine boys and other groups ‘underemployed’ on the streets of the big towns. The evidence presented in the report suggested that the bulk of employment in the informal sector, far from being only marginally productive, is economically efficient and profit-making, though small in scale. The informal sector is formed by the coping behaviour of individuals and families in economic environment where earning opportunities are scarce, or where regulation is too complex. The informal sector can also be a product of rational behaviour of entrepreneurs wishing to escape state regulations. There is a relation between welfare (GDP per capita) and relative size of the informal sector. Richer countries have relatively a smaller informal sector. However, government policies and attitudes are important as well. The relative size of the informal sector depends, among other factors, on the ‘regulatory capacity’ and ‘regulatory intent’ of governments. There is little known about the relation between informal and criminal activities. The informal economy seems to be a permanent feature of both high, middle and low income countries. Due to the actual economic crisis, people are pushed from the formal to informal economy. Rapid urbanisation is a factor as well. While the problem of size measuring is not insignificant, most observers agree that the informal economy is large and growing and will be an enduring feature of the economy of mega-cities.

The last decade the wearing of face hiding clothes has come up as a rather new phenomenon in the Netherlands and surrounding countries. Although not that many people wear them, a rather wide aversion exists against this phenomenon and is directed especially against the Islamic burqa. A rather intensive public and political debat is going on concerning the allowance of those clothes. In different countries, among which the Netherlands, France and Belgium, the legislator is drafting laws which aim to forbid the wearing of these clothes. This article gives an overview of the debate on this issue in especially the aforementioned countries and reflects upon it, with a special focus on the freedom of belief and religion.

Evaluative studies show that victims are generally satisfied with their participation in a restorative intervention, even when concerning violent crime. Therefore, we don’t have to ask whether restorative justice should be offered to victims of crime, but how it should be offered. Using the victimological literature, we explore the appropriateness of two opposing models with regard to the offer in violent crime cases. The protective model, as for instance endorsed by victim support services in Québec, is based on the concern for the protection of vulnerable victims. The proactive model, as inscribed in the 2005 law on the general offer of mediation in Belgium, is based on the informed consent principle. Both models respect the needs of victims, while ranking these needs differently. The available empirical and theoretical observations on the subject do not unilaterally support or reject either model. We, therefore, present a complementary, albeit theoretical model, i.e. the integration of the invitation to a restorative intervention within victim support services.

Municipalities play an increasingly important role in the fight against organized crime. Following Italian and New York examples, the Netherlands have developed several instruments for an administrative approach to organized crime. This article describes these instruments on a local and a national level and discusses its theoretical foundations. A critical assessment is made on the reach of this administrative approach considering the perception and nature of organized crime in the Netherlands. Further, methods for assessing the effectiveness of such an approach are discussed. Has organized crime successfully been targeted and how could this be established?

In the local governance of public safety many different organizations are involved. These organizations cooperate in local networks or partnerships to manage problems related to crime and disorder. In the Netherlands the local government should coordinate the cooperation between these organizations and their activities. Research shows that in practice this coordination has many serious shortcomings.
Therefore the Dutch government proposed a new Act to promote the local government’s capacities to coordinate these networks and local policies of public safety (Wet op de gemeentelijke regierol lokale integrale veiligheid). At this moment this proposal has not yet been submitted to the Dutch Parliament.
This Act will create new obligations and powers for the local government. According to this Act every four years local councils will have to establish a public safety policy plan based on an analysis of local problems of crime and disorder. Local governments should make formal agreements with the local partner agencies about their activities. Additionally the Act will provide local governments with the power to enforce these cooperation and contributions and to sanction it.
Research shows that many of the problems that arise in the coordination of these networks and partnerships result from the local governments themselves. Often the governmental support and commitment to local safety issues are insufficient, the local administration is highly fragmented, the coordination is often poorly implemented and local administration often have a bureaucratic culture that is hard to reconcile with the need to react quickly to urgent local problems.
Considering these problems the authors argue that this proposed Act is not an adequate solution for the problems that arise in the coordination of local safety policies and partnerships.

Marriage is considered to be an important life-course event that can lead to desistance from a criminal career. However, desistance is far less obvious when offenders marry criminal partners. The aim of this study is to investigate what impact a spouse’s criminal career at the time of marriage has on persistence in crime. To analyze the relationship between marriage, spousal criminality, and criminal offending, we use a unique longitudinal dataset: the Criminal Career and Life-course Study. This is the first study that contains longitudinal data on the criminal careers of both offenders and their partners. Results show that the frequency of criminal conviction is lower if men marry non-criminal spouses. However, if men marry criminal spouses, their conviction rate does not differ from those who remain single. For women, on the other hand, marriage is related to lower conviction frequencies no matter the spouse’s criminal history.

Deze bijdrage heeft betrekking op het beloningsbeleid in de financiële sector. Allereerst wordt ingegaan op toegenomen aandacht voor de beloningen in de financiële sector en op de opbouw en reikwijdte van de verschillende initiatieven. Vervolgens worden de verschillende initiatieven op het gebied van het beloningsbeleid in de financiële sector met elkaar vergeleken. Die vergelijking mondt uit in een (model) beloningscode die weergeeft wat goede corporate governance op het gebied van het beloningsbeleid zou kunnen zijn. Deze (model) beloningscode zouden financiële instellingen of financiële ondernemingen kunnen gebruiken als leidraad bij het vaststellen en uitvoeren van hun beloningsbeleid. Deze bijdrage wordt afgesloten met enkele afsluitende opmerkingen.

Het publieke overnamebeleid is gebaseerd op de theorie van de Markt voor Bestuurstitels. Deze bijdrage laat zien dat overnames in de praktijk veelal gebaseerd zijn op factoren die met deze theorie weinig te maken hebben. Dat blijkt onder meer uit het feit dat de meeste overnames telkens weer mislukken op het vlak van economische waardeschepping. Deze bijdrage presenteert daarom een alternatief dat volgens de auteur nauwer aansluit bij de werkelijke overnamepraktijk, te weten de minimax-spijttheorie. Deze theorie legt het accent op strategische in plaats van economische factoren. Een en ander heeft verregaande consequenties voor het publieke overnamebeleid, in het bijzonder betreffende de toelaatbaarheid van beschermingsconstructies.

De Nederlandse overheid ziet met lede ogen aan dat consumenten via internet en zonder tussenkomst van medisch specialisten of andere deskundigen hun genenkaart laten ontcijferen. Dit onderzoek gebeurt door bedrijven die in andere landen zijn gevestigd, dan wel gebruik maken van de diensten van elders gevestigden. De consument krijgt aldus informatie over de kans op het krijgen van erfelijke aandoeningen. Deze onlineverkoop staat op gespannen voet met de Nederlandse wetgeving. Vandaar ook deze ‘buitenlandroute’,waarmee consumenten én bedrijven de Nederlandse regels betrekkelijk eenvoudig kunnen omzeilen. Deze bijdrage onderzoekt de ruimte van Nederland als EU-lidstaat om het aanbod van commerciële genoomanalyse te reguleren. De Nederlandse wetgeving wordt tegelijkertijd langs de Europese meetlat gelegd en blijkt niet EU-proof te zijn.

Dit artikel beschrijft wat inspectiediensten verstaan onder systeemtoezicht en hoe zij dit toepassen. Er blijken grote verschillen te zijn in zowel de gebruikte definities als in de praktische toepassing. De toezichthouder kan met behulp van systeemtoezicht, mits juist toegepast, ervoor zorgen dat grote bedrijven maatschappelijke belangen borgen in hun organisatie. De toezichthouder moet hierbij enerzijds niet te goedgelovig zijn en altijd fysieke controles blijven doen. Anderzijds moet hij ervoor waken niet overmatig te controleren waardoor de voordelen van systeemtoezicht weer teniet zouden worden gedaan. Systeemtoezicht en bestraffing verdragen elkaar slecht doordat bestraffing het leereffect negatief kan beïnvloeden.

In de zoektocht naar meer doeltreffende en doelmatige arrangementen van overheidstoezicht, gooit ‘systeemtoezicht’ de laatste jaren hoge ogen. Binnen de rijksoverheid en Inspectieraad heeft zich in de afgelopen jaren in korte tijd een generieke beleidstheorie van systeemtoezicht ontwikkeld. Systeemtoezicht is gepresenteerd als ware het de Haarlemmerolie waarmee kwalen behorend bij overheidstoezicht zouden kunnen worden verholpen. Maar is het dat ook? In dit artikel betogen wij aan de hand van empirisch onderzoek in een zestal sectoren dat de beleidstheorie van systeemtoezicht zoals die zich ontwikkeld heeft vooral is gestoeld op verwachtingen in plaats van op empirie.

Deze rubriek geeft een overzicht van recente wet- en regelgeving.

Economists like to think in terms of markets, where supply and demand meet. There are, however, also ‘real’ criminal markets where either supply and demand of illegal goods or services can meet, or where perpetrators ‘receive’ a financial penalty for his/her illegal acts. This article focuses on economic research in the field of these markets, especially where it concerns victimless crimes.