The Global Forum on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes has undertaken peer reviews on the implementation of the global standard of exchange of information on request, both from the perspective of formalities available and from the perspective of actual implementation. In the review reports Global Forum advises jurisdictions on required amendments of regulations and practices. With these advices, the Global Forum exercises regulatory authority. The article assesses the legitimacy of the exercise of such authority by the Global Forum and concludes that the exercise of such authority is not legitimate for the reason that the rule of law is abused by preventing jurisdictions to adhere to due process rules.

Criminologists generally regard below-average intelligence as a robust correlate of delinquency and crime. In this article the author argues that the negative association between IQ and crime could be explained at least in part by a lack of research access to gifted adults who possess wealth, power and privileges. Asking these adults about other types of offending (e.g. white-collar crimes) than usual in self-report studies might uncover a positive relationship between IQ and prevalence rates, in accordance with the results of the exploratory study underlying this article. As a consequence different conclusions about the linkages between intelligence and crime might have to be drawn.

In deze trending topics wordt de bijdrage van vertrekkend hoogleraar Henk van de Bunt aan het criminologisch onderzoek op het terrein van het financieel-economisch strafrecht besproken.

In this article notions from literature on covert and illegal networks are applied to business cartels. Comparable to most criminal networks, cartel participants need to communicate in order to coordinate their activities, whilst under the risk of getting caught. Previous studies however show cartels can remain hidden from outsiders for long periods of time. Based on an analysis of fourteen Dutch cartel cases, this article addresses the question how cartels can remain hidden from outsiders for long periods of time. The analysis shows cartel participants communicate predominantly centralized and frequent. Moreover, the results show that not concealment but social embeddedness provides a strong explanation for the longevity of secrecy regarding cartels.

In this article we identify the political agency and discretion available to metropolises to define and accomplish their own policing agendas and to question what the role of public police forces can be in executing such agendas. Results of a comparative case study of 24 metropolises illustrate a major focus on risk management strategies like environmental opportunity oriented measures, hot spot hot time predictive policing actions and preventative community oriented policing. Also programs like Top 600 in Amsterdam and other early intervention efforts oriented towards ‘groups at risk’ (youngsters, nomads and criminal careers) find a place in the risk assessment regime. This article classifies all urban programs in 5 different ‘urban regimes’ and sheds light on the role the police should take in order to execute stated policy goals, summarized in urban policy coalition plans and security plans.