Dutch mayors are confronted with various crises differing from a deadly incident with a monster truck to societal unrest due to convicted sex offenders returning to local society. This article presents the results of a research about the role of the mayor in so-called ‘youth crises’. The ‘big decentralization operation’ of January 1, 2015 resulted in new tasks and responsibilities for local governments regarding youth care. This research focuses on the implications of this decentralization for the leadership style of the mayor when a youth related crisis causes societal unrest. The way in which mayors deal with such a crisis was studied by means of in-depth interviews and a vignette study before and after the decentralization. This research concludes that the leadership style of the mayor did not change after the decentralization. Mayors consistently show two dominant leadership styles when managing a youth crisis: ‘First Civilian’ and ‘Peer Governor.’ As a ‘First Civilian’ the mayor’s crisis management actions focuses primarily on the community and the affected family. The style ‘Peer Governor’ is all about gathering relevant information and consultation with various partners, such as youth care organizations and aldermen. More interestingly, the results show that decentralization of youth care redefines the relationship between the local alderman responsible for youth care and the mayor as a crisis manager safeguarding local order and public safety. This relationship is currently under construction and could grow either competitive or fruitful.

This article scrutinizes the forces that are at play during the work of police officers in the Netherlands in order to unravel how they shape and give meaning to police officers’ workaday practice. By doing so, we contribute to scholarly debates in the fields of criminology and public administration and give a new impulse to the Dutch debate on policy culture. Using insights from the literatures on police culture, policing, police morality and police styles as theoretical background, an empirical study was conducted using fifteen focus groups with a total of 83 police officers working at street-level as main method of data collection. After analyzing the transcripts through an iterative coding process, four main forces that influence police officers’ workaday practice emerged from the data, partly confirming and partly expanding existing research: 1) environment and public; 2) group culture; 3) organization and its supervisors; and 4) personal factors. However, by acquiring a deeper understanding of these forces in relation to each other and to their workaday practice, police officers’ ‘moral resilience’ will increase: it will help them to act well-considered, strengthening their ability to explain the logic of their actions.

De macht van de regel is beperkt. Veranderingen binnen de financiële sector en de gezondheidssector vereisen vooral een gedragsverandering van de traditionele spelers binnen die sectoren. Wet- en regelgeving kunnen maar een beperkte rol spelen om de vereiste veranderingen te realiseren. Dit geldt voor meerdere (publieke) sectoren van de samenleving. Zeker als sprake is van overregulering en daarmee samenhangende regeldruk, zoals in de financiële sector het geval is.

Deze bijdrage bespreekt de aard en reikwijdte van het internationaal gezondheidsrecht, een tak van het internationaal publiekrecht die nauw verweven is met het nationale gezondheidsrecht. De standaarden van de Wereldgezondheidsorganisatie komen aan bod, evenals de relevante mensenrechtenbepalingen. De conclusie luidt dat het internationaal gezondheidsrecht een dynamisch veld is dat voor grote uitdagingen staat, waaronder het ontwikkelen van nieuwe standaarden in antwoord op de mondiale stijging van chronische ziektes en het ter verantwoording roepen van invloedrijke niet-statelijke actoren zoals de farmaceutische industrie en de tabaksindustrie.

The Custodial Institutions Agency (Dienst Justitiële Inrichtingen - DJI) is responsible for the incarceration of offenders, the restoration of the legal order and reducing the risk of recidivism. DJI thereby provides a unique contribution to the security of society. An individualised approach of offenders and a focus on staff expertise are at the heart of the DJI strategy.
Knowledge management can make a significant contribution to achieving these objectives. Knowledge management aims at injecting penal policy as well as practice with knowledge.
To obtain this knowledge DJI has appealed to science for quite some time. This has resulted in various forms of cooperation. This article describes the principles of this cooperation and gives many examples of ongoing cooperation. Knowledge management within DJI has to deal with two bottlenecks in particular: (1) the articulation of the exact need for knowlegde (‘asking the right questions’) and (2) the use of available relevant knowledge on behalf of penal policy and practice.

Law enforcement around the world, including the Netherlands, is currently experimenting with predictive policing: policing based on crime predictions. Big Data on past crimes and the help of sophisticated machine learning enable police to use reliable predictions about when and where the next offense will take place. If the effectiveness of policing actions is stored in the system, it can also predict which intervention is most effective. This is called prescriptive policing. The authors explain how these methods work, how reliable and effective they are and which associated risks can be identified. The authors emphasize that legal, ethical and organizational safeguards are necessary for a responsible implementation.

This paper uses social network analysis to study and compare the organizational structures and division of roles of three jihadist networks in the Netherlands. It uses unique Dutch police data covering the 2000-2013 period. This study demonstrates how the organizational structures differ between different networks. The earliest network has a hierarchical cell structure with a clear division of labour, while the later networks are horizontal and dense networks with less clear orientation on tasks. The core member types in the jihadist networks also differ. The earliest network contains international jihad veterans with clear leadership skills, while the later networks contain home-grown radicals with less status and often a lack of expertise. Furthermore, several jihadists evolve over time, when they used to be supporters, but become core members in posterior networks.

Governance of family wealth is multifaceted in nature. In order to deepen our understanding of this topical issue, the current article offers a framework to grasp the complexity of family wealth governance. In doing so, the authors make a distinction between family wealth, socioemotional wealth, and family dynamics. The authors bridge the three distinct – yet interrelated – aspects both from a legal and psychological perspective. The framework can expand insight towards conflicts existing within families, across generations. Each component then provides challenges as well as opportunities to manage family conflict in an integrative and sustainable manner, a process which is facilitated by empathy.

Bij samenwerking in meerpartijenverhoudingen, zoals bouwcontracten, gaat geregeld iets mis. Vaak komt dit voort uit onvoldoende communicatie, coördinatie en afstemming tussen betrokkenen. Op contractanten in meerpartijenverhoudingen rusten op basis van de wet slechts vrij basale verplichtingen ten behoeve van samenwerking, zoals elkaar informeren over de stand van zaken van het werk. In standaard voorwaarden is meer aandacht voor verplichtingen gericht op goede samenwerking en in hedendaagse contracten worden steeds vaker positieve prikkels opgenomen (tevredenheidsverklaringen, bonussen, besparingsmodellen) om de onderlinge samenwerking te bevorderen. Ten slotte worden specifiek in de bouwpraktijk digitale tools ingezet (o.m. BIM en LEAN thinking) om samenwerking en contracten beter te kunnen managen.”

De auteur bespreekt een door het Kamerlid Zijlstra ingediende motie, waarin hij oproept om juristen de opdracht te geven positief te adviseren over veiligheidsmaatregelen vanwege (dreigend) terrorisme. De wetgevingsjurist dient zich niet af te vragen of iets mogelijk is, maar te zorgen dat het mogelijk is. De auteur bespreekt welke juridische argumentaties er zijn om veiligheidsoverwegingen boven juridische overwegingen te laten gaan. Wel is het de vraag of het van een wetgevingsjurist kan worden verwacht dat hij zelf een afweging tussen veiligheidsoverwegingen en juridische overwegingen maakt. In feite maakt hij dan niet alleen een juridische afweging, maar ook een beleidsmatige afweging. De vraag is waarom wetgevingsjuristen zich kennelijk gedwongen voelen zich in dergelijke bochten te wringen. Het feit dat de Tweede Kamer zich weinig actief bemoeit met het waarborgen van rechtsstatelijke normen kan daar mede aan ten grondslag liggen. In die zin verbergen Kamerleden zich achter het schild van het juridisch advies.