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This article contributes to our existing knowledge through a crime script analysis of contract killings, based on six extensively analyzed police investigations in the Netherlands. Starting from a universal crime script, a more specific crime script for contract killings is elaborated. To provide a clear picture of the whole process, the description of the scenes focuses on requirements, facilitators, modi operandi, and preparatory actions. A comparison of liquidation investigations is made through a crime script analysis, which results in three types of requirements: vehicles, automatic weapons, and technical equipment, including PGP-telephones and beacons. In addition, spy shops turn out to play a major role in liquidations as facilitators. Due to a lack of licensing and regulations, the owners of spy shops can decide to a large extent on their own procedures. This leads to the possibility of buying and selling equipment anonymously and with large amounts of cash, which facilitates the preparation of liquidations and crime in general. Hitmen are the second type of important facilitators. The analysis reveals that all liquidation investigations contain indications of a principal to whom account has to be held. Two investigations clearly demonstrate financial rewards for contract killings.

Using long-term personal background and registered criminal career data on 2,714 police-identified members of Dutch Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMCGs), the current study examines Dutch OMCG membership and its association with members’ criminal careers. Results show that Dutch OMCG members differ from the average Dutch adult male population (N = 6,845,110) in terms of demographic, socio-economic, and criminal career characteristics. Furthermore, the findings corroborate statements that selection into Dutch OMCG membership has changed in recent years. Finally, the study explored the consequences of joining and desisting an OMCG on crime. The findings cautiously demonstrate that desistance from OMCG membership is associated with a drop in total and violent registered criminal behavior. No effects of joining an OMCG on crime were found, which is attributed to recent changes in OMCGs’ membership profile. Implications for future research are discussed.

Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) are increasingly viewed as societal menace. Prior research corroborates concerns about OMCGs by showing that many outlaw bikers have a criminal record for various—at times serious–types of offenses (Blokland et al., 2019; Klement, 2016; Rostami & Mondani, 2019; Van Deuren et al., 2021). From a theoretical point of view, OMCGs appear to occupy somewhat of a middle-ground between street gangs and organized crime groups (Von Lampe & Blokland, 2020). Like street gangs, OMCGs are durable, street orientated associations, whose members engage in criminal activity, such as violence and damaging offenses (Klein & Maxson, 2006). Unlike street gang members, however, OMCG members tend to be adults (Blokland et al., 2019; Klement, 2016). Some OMCGs have also been found to engage in serious and organized crimes, such as the manufacturing and trafficking of drugs, extortion, and racketeering (Barker, 2015; Quinn & Koch, 2003; Von Lampe & Blokland, 2020), making them resemble organized crime groups rather than juvenile street gangs in this respect (Lauchs et al., 2015)...

In order to launder large amounts of money, (drug) criminals can seek help from financial facilitators. According to the FATF, these facilitators are operating increasingly business-like and even participate in professional money laundering networks. This study examines the extent to which financial facilitators in the Netherlands exhibit business-like characteristics and the extent to which they organize themselves in money laundering networks. We further examine the relationship between business-like behavior and individual money launderers’ position in the social network. Using police intelligence data, we were able to analyze the contacts of 198 financial facilitators who were active in the Netherlands in the period 2016–2020, all having worked for drug criminals. Based on social network analysis, this research shows that financial facilitators in the Netherlands can be linked in extensive money laundering networks. Based on the facilitators’ area of expertise, roughly two main types of professional money laundering networks can be discerned. Some subnetworks operate in the real estate sector, while others primarily engage in underground banking. Furthermore, the application of regression models to predict business-like behavior using individual network measures shows that facilitators with more central positions in the network and those who collaborate with financial facilitators from varying expertise groups tend to behave more business-like than other financial facilitators.

In recent years, many European countries have taken far-reaching measures to combat the criminal activities of outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs). Meanwhile, empirical research into the ways OMCGs are involved in and influence the crimes of their members is largely lacking. This study presents the main findings of research based on police files of cases that were filed against members of Dutch OMCGs. We apply a criminological scenario approach to analyse to what extent and in which ways OMCGs are involved in the crimes of their members. The results show that OMCG membership particularly plays an indirect role in the criminal behaviour of OMCG members. Board members, for example, give permission for criminal acts, regulate mutual relationships between members, non-members and rival OMCGs during conflict situations, and forbid (criminal) behaviour of members that is harmful to the OMCG. OMCGs function as a pool of co-offenders and as a market for criminal enterprises. Members also use the violent reputation of OMCGs in specific criminal activities. OMCGs are less frequently directly involved in crimes. Direct involvement of OMCGs is most apparent in organized inter-gang violence and violence against their own members.

The Dutch criminal law system is based on individual liability, yet part of the crime and violence Outlaw Motorcycle Gang (OMCG) members commit is collective in nature. This study examines the criminal law approach towards collective criminal behavior of OMCG members. The study analyzes police files and court judgements of criminal law cases that were filed against members of Dutch OMCGs. Additionally, interviews were carried out with public prosecutors involved in these criminal cases. The results show that it is often difficult to legally address OMCGs as criminal organizations or weigh the mere symbolic contribution of fellow club members to crime, such as the use of the OMCGs’ violent reputation. Furthermore, the results suggest that in order to circumvent legal difficulties in addressing group symbolism and OMCGs as collectives via criminal law, the Dutch Public Prosecution Office has recently opted for a stronger interplay between criminal and civil law, targeting both individual OMCG members and the structural aspects of OMCGs. Future research is needed to establish which (interplays between) legal instruments are most effective in responding to collective criminal behavior.

What are similarities and differences between violent and nonviolent terrorist suspects? Our study aims to answer this question by comparing violent terrorist suspects (VTS) (n = 57) to nonviolent terrorist suspects (NVTS) (n = 292) in the Netherlands. Guided by social control theories and using register data from the Dutch Public Prosecution Service, Statistics Netherlands, and the Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Justice and Security, we investigated the 2 years leading up to the terrorist suspicion by examining demographic characteristics, household composition, socioeconomic factors, and criminal background. Findings demonstrate more similarities than differences between the groups. Nonetheless, VTS were significantly more often male and had more often a (violent) criminal background. For NVTS, we found possible preventive effects of living with parents and employment. Furthermore, the differences in socioeconomic status (SES) we found urge us to develop a better understanding of the socioeconomic environment VTS and NVTS are part of and whether and how their perception of this environment influences their behavior. Notwithstanding the limitations in our study (e.g., potential police bias in register data, small sample sizes), the analyses provide insight into what factors, and potential underlying mechanisms, need further investigation to understand violent and nonviolent outcomes.

Nederland en België zijn als drugsproductielanden en centrale logistieke knooppunten aanvoerders van de ‘verkeerde lijstjes’ op het gebied van de internationale handel in verdovende middelen. In de media en politiek in Nederland – en in mindere mate in België –steekt om deze reden de typering ‘narcostaat’ om de zoveel tijd de kop op. Een andere veelgehoorde term als het gaat om drugscriminaliteit is ‘ondermijning’. In deze inleidende bijdrage van het themanummer over drugscriminaliteit diepen we twee onderwerpen nader uit die terugkomen in de typeringen ‘narcostaat’ en ‘ondermijning’: de omvang(schatting) van de drugseconomie en de verwevenheid van de drugsindustrie met de wettige wereld in de Lage Landen.

As existing literature on intergenerational continuity of criminal behavior is mainly based on data on ‘general’ offenders and their children, the current study aims to improve our knowledge by looking at intergenerational continuity of crime among a national sample of children of organized crime offenders. Judicial data on all (N= 478) offenders convicted of organized crime in the Netherlands (in the period 2008 - 2014) and their children were used to study offspring’s involvement in crime. In addition, a comparison group was selected from the entire population in the Netherlands to examine the relative risk of offending. Results show that almost half of the children of organized crime offenders have a criminal record. Sons are significantly more at risk of offending and this risk also increases strongly by age. Furthermore, the results show the strongest intergenerational relation for violent crimes. Gender of the convicted parent and timing of parental crime also seem to play a role in the continuity. With regard to the relative risk of offending, the results show that children of convicted organized crime offenders are three times more at risk of offending compared to children in the comparison group, even after controlling for the number of parental crimes. In sum, there is a substantial risk of intergenerational continuity of criminal behavior among children of organized crime offenders. Future research would benefit from focusing on how criminal behavior in these specific families is transmitted to future generations.

Widely accepted findings in developmental and life-course criminology cannot be extended to criminal careers of organized crime offenders. While most offenders begin offending at a young age, criminal careers in organized crime are generally characterized by a late onset typically characterized by relatively serious offending. Different patterns exist for different groups, including early starters, adult-onset offenders, and offenders with no previous judicial contacts, but all studies find a significant share of adult-onset offenders. Social relationships, including family, friendship, and work ties, are importantly related to becoming involved in organized crime. Involvement mechanisms are diverse; both conventional and criminal capital are important. Children of organized crime offenders have a high risk of intergenerational continuity of crime. Factors that promote desistance for most offenders, such as employment, sometimes have different meanings for organized crime participants, as some occupations provide criminal opportunities and some work settings foster offender convergence. Widely used concepts such as specialization and desistance are less applicable because of the distinctive nature of organized crime offenses and careers. The most urgent issue for future research is to incorporate the roles of co-offenders into analyses of individual criminal careers.

In this explorative study we provide empirical insight into how organized crime offenders use IT to launder their money. Our empirical data consist of 30 large-scale criminal investigations into organized crime. These cases are part of the most recent, fifth data sweep of the Dutch Organized Crime Monitor (DOCM). We do not focus on cybercrime alone. Instead, we explore the financial aspects of criminal operations in a broad range of types of organized crime, i.e. from ‘traditional’ types of organized crime, such as offline drug smuggling, to cybercrime. Regarding the spending of criminal proceeds (consumption and investment), the analyses show several similarities and no major differences between traditional crime and cybercrime. When it comes to concealing criminal earnings (money laundering), we do see important differences. Financial innovation, such as the use of cryptocurrencies, seems to be limited to cases of IT-related crime. One of the most striking similarities between cybercrime and traditional crime is the offenders’ preference for cash. In the analysed cases, malware and phishing offenders as well as online drug traffickers change their digital currencies for cash, at least in part.

Introduction to special issue Crime, Law and Social Change on 'Innovations in empirical research into human trafficking'.

Female offenders are seldom studied by criminological scholars. This is certainly the case regarding offenses like human trafficking and sexual exploitation. However, the number of women suspected of being a perpetrator of human trafficking should not be underestimated. In this paper we present the results of a study on female perpetrators of human trafficking. We have analyzed the court-files of 150 women who have been convicted for human trafficking. We present results on the prevalence of female offenders of human trafficking and the forms of exploitation they have been convicted for. After this we present the sanctions that were imposed on the women and the offender, offense and victim characteristics. This paper concludes by discussing implications for criminal justice authorities, policy and research.

The article Contract killings: a crime script analysis, written by Laura R. de Korte and Edward R. Kleemans, was originally published Online First without Open Access. With the authors’ decision to opt for Open Choice the copyright of the article changed on May 21, 2021 to...

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.

In this article, we study the various functions of online cybercriminal meeting places from a unique perspective: We do not take the criminal meeting place as a starting point, but the users—the criminal networks. This allows not only for a view of what is happening on online meeting places, but it also places online meeting places into perspective. Our data consisted of detailed case descriptions of 40 cybercriminal networks active in the Netherlands (18), Germany (3), the United Kingdom (9), and the United States (10). Reconstructions were made based on analysis of police files and/or interviews with case officers and public prosecutors. Online meeting places play a role in the majority of our cases: to meet co-offenders, to buy tools, or to sell data. However, from a crime script perspective, the role of forums is much more modest. Forums, for example, can be used to find suitable co-offenders, but in the majority of our cases the core members did not meet at forums. Offline meeting places still play an important role in cybercriminal networks. Furthermore, forums can be viewed as online versions of offline offender convergence settings—physical locations such as a bar—where criminals can meet, and ensure continuity and structure. However, forums might be more accessible than physical criminal meeting places. For a curious newbie, it is, for example, easier to visit all sorts of forums than it is to visit all sorts of criminal bars. Finally, our cases show that the learning function of forums should not be underestimated.

This is a first exploratory study into possibilities to counter the recruitment of money mules, based on 112 statements of money mules from 14 Dutch criminal investigations into phishing and malware networks. The study focused on motives and techniques of neutralization as well an on possibilities for situational crime prevention.

In dit artikel pogen we verandering te brengen in de onderbelichte rol van moeders in deintergenerationele overdracht van criminaliteit: door in te zoomen op de rol van demoeder achter (het voorkomen van) de overdracht, in het bijzonder in de wereld van degeorganiseerde misdaad. De resultaten van onze exploratieve studie naar 25 plegersvan georganiseerde misdaad in Amsterdam en hun partners en kinderen laten zien datmoeder, via onder meer opvoedingscapaciteiten en overdracht van normen en waarden,niet alleen een belangrijke bepalende rol lijkt te hebben bij de intergenerationele over‐dracht van criminaliteit, maar ook bij het voorkomen van deze overdracht.

Criminele netwerken gebruiken ICT op tal van manieren: voor onderlinge communicatie, om capabele mededaders en ‘tools’ te vinden, om afzetmarkten te vergroten, om een groter aantal potentiele slachtoffers te bereiken, en ook om criminele geldstromen af te schermen. Het regelen en afschermen van geldstromen is een essentiele opgave voor daders in de georganiseerde criminaliteit. Georganiseerde criminaliteit is primair ingegeven door financieel gewin. Maar criminele verdiensten brengen risico’s met zich mee, vooral als je succesvol bent en je criminele activiteiten grote opbrengsten genereren. Criminele verdiensten en de besteding daarvan kunnen immers tot aandacht van de autoriteiten leiden, met arrestatie en inbeslagname van vermogen als mogelijke gevolgen. Dit artikel biedt empirisch inzicht in hoe daders binnen de georganiseerde criminaliteit ICT gebruiken voor het regelen van hun geldstromen. We richten ons daarbij niet uitsluitend op cybercrime, maar verkennen juist het gebruik van ICT en de consequenties daarvan voor een breder scala van soorten georganiseerde criminaliteit, dus ook ‘traditionele’ georganiseerde criminaliteit zoals drugssmokkel. De empirische data die aan dit artikel ten grondslag liggen, bestaan uit dertig grootschalige opsporingsonderzoeken die zijn bestudeerd voor de Monitor Georganiseerde Criminaliteit. Hieronder lichten we eerst de onderzoeksopzet en de gebruikte bronnen toe. Vervolgens bespreken we de empirische resultaten van onze studie. Daarbij gaan we in op de criminele verdiensten zelf, maar met name op de besteding ervan en het afschermen van criminele inkomsten. We eindigen het artikel met conclusies. Aan de ene kant leidt ICT ook wat betreft het beheer van criminele geldstromen tot nieuwe werkwijzen. Aan de andere kant laten analyses zien dat oude zekerheden nog steeds een prominente rol spelen in keuzes van daders. Zo blijkt contant geld nog steeds een dominante factor in criminele geldstromen, zowel bij traditionele georganiseerde criminaliteit als bij cybercriminaliteit. Bovendien blijkt het omwisselen van digitale valuta voor contant geld een belangrijke flessenhals te zijn voor het criminele bedrijfsproces van daders die online opereren. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rutgerleukfeldt/

Any person who has been a victim of human trafficking has a right to compensation. Compensation entails the reimbursement of material and immaterial damages a trafficked person has suffered. In spite of the internationally recognized right to compensation, the number of trafficked persons in Europe having actually received any reimbursement is very low. The present study identifies obstacles to compensation by analysing the Dutch injured party claim. It uses 190 case files covering the period 2013–2014. The empirical results show several issues. Only an estimated 4% of all registered victims claim compensation in the criminal court. A fifth of these claims are inadmissible. Admissible claims are on average awarded only half of the claimed amount. A major reason for this is how difficult it is to estimate damages accurately. This is, in many cases, related to a lack of proof, caused by for example lack of records, insufficient financial investigation, and incomplete testimonies, which result in only minimum amounts being awarded. Additionally, judges are often inclined to dismiss the claim or award a minimum, even in those cases where evidence is available. As a result, compensation is often not in line with damages that have actually been suffered.

This chapter begins by discussing the three types of organized crime—racketeering, transit crime, and the local provision of illegal goods and services—and the significance of place. It then considers the role of places and the (built) environment for organized crime. The main message is that place has a different meaning for these three types of organized crime and raises several theoretical challenges. As these types of organized crime often require a higher degree of social organization than opportunistic street-level crime, the chapter elaborates on two theoretical concepts that should be included in the study of organized crime and place: social opportunity structure and offender convergence settings.

This paper assesses the empirical evidence on multi-agency collaboration to reduce crime, uphold justice and improve safety in the so-called ‘Red Light District’ in the city center of Amsterdam, which has been a high crime area for decades. Three periods are analyzed: crime on the streets (1980s–1996); organized crime behind the front doors (1996–2007); and reconquering the Red Light District (2007–2011). The paper analyzes shifts in the definition and framing of central crime problems, causal assumptions, policy assumptions, and evidence on multi-agency collaboration and outcomes. Alongside positive outcomes, all three periods contain evidence on how difficult it is to forge and sustain alliances between government agencies; and to coordinate a shared focus on a single area and on a single topic. Furthermore, the final outcomes of these efforts are hard to measure with the exception of visible street crime. Finally, the paper contributes to the literature on Third Party Policing and multi-agency collaboration by looking beyond the police as the central actor and by widening the predominant instrumental focus to normative and political issues such as changing norms, priorities, and increasing and decreasing internal and external support for certain policy lines and actions.

Dutch drug policy, once considered pragmatic and lenient and rooted in a generally tolerant attitude toward drug use, has slowly but surely shifted from a primarily public health focus to an increasing focus on law enforcement. The "coffee shop" policy and the policy toward MDMA/ecstasy are illustrations. Both were initiated from a public health perspective but were attacked because of unintended side effects relating to supply markets, crime, and nuisance. Coffee shops became the subject of increasing restrictions and MDMA/ecstasy production became the target of a comprehensive enforcement program. It took some time before the tougher strategies were applied. The health-oriented approach and the conviction that drug problems can be contained, but not eradicated, are deeply rooted. This led to acknowledgment of the adverse consequences of increased law enforcement and tempered its application. Research showed effectiveness in some regards but also unintended consequences. The expansion of illegal cannabis consumer markets after restrictions on coffee shops is one example. The use of alternative chemical ingredients for ecstasy production is another. Changes in drug policy have an effect on supply markets, but drug use seems largely unaffected.

This article uses empirical data from the Dutch Organized Crime Monitor to give empirical insight into the choices organized crime offenders make when they invest their money in legal economy. Using a dataset of 1196 individual investments, light is shed on what kind of assets offenders purchase and where these assets are located. The results are used to assess the tenability of different theoretical perspectives and assumptions that are present in the literature on money laundering and organized crime: the standard economic approach (‘profit’), the criminal infiltration approach (‘power’) and social opportunity structure (‘proximity’). The results of this study show that offenders predominantly invest in their country of origin or in their country of residence and that their investments consist of tangible, familiar assets such as residences and other real estate and (small) companies from well-known sectors. Investments such as bonds, options, and stocks in companies in which offenders are not personally (or indirectly) involved, such as stocks in companies noted on the stock exchange, were only found in a small number of cases. In other words: offenders usually stay close to home with their investments. So, instead of profitability or power, proximity seems to be a better description of their investment choices.

Organized crime emerged suddenly on the political and law enforcement agenda in manyEuropean countries in the 1980s and 1990s. The increasing focus on financial aspects oforganized crime followed suit, but at a much slower pace. Anti-money laundering efforts wereactively promoted by some governments and organizations such as the Financial Action TaskForce (FATF),butwerealsoopposedbyotherparties,as somemeasures imposea highburdenoncertaineconomicsectors(seeforareview,e.g.,LeviandReuter2006;Levi2013;Kilchling2014; Halliday et al. 2014). These sustained anti-money laundering efforts gained newmomentum through the shocking terrorist attacks in New York (2001), Madrid (2004), andLondon (2005), and several recent incidents in European countries and abroad. Consequently,the discussion has been widened from organized crime (with a strong emphasis on drugtrafficking) to terrorism and terrorist funding, although these phenomena and the financialaspects of these phenomena may be quite different in several respects.The discussion on money laundering has a strong policy focus and is dominated byuntested assumptions about offenders and offender behavior, and the impact of criminalnetworks and criminal activities on society. Can organized crime activities and terrorism belumped together or should they be treated separately? What influence does money have onthese phenomena and is this differentfor different aspects such as investing money in criminalactivities, moving and laundering proceeds of crime, and investing money in legal economy?Whatis the impact ofmoney launderingonthe integrity of thefinancialsystem andonsocietyas a whole? Is it really a big threat and in what respect? Can money laundering be curbedthrough specific crime prevention strategies and investigation strategies (‘follow the money’)?And how should these new strategies be integrated in the law enforcement system?Empirical research into financial aspects of organized crime is very important to test theassumptions that are part of public debate, but are often taken for granted, not explicated, andput to the empirical test. Despite the importance of this task, academic researchers — with afew notable exceptions — have not paida lotof attention to these salientquestions. Therefore

Dit artikel beschrijft de resultaten van twaalf opsporingsonderzoeken naar criminele activiteiten die worden uitgevoerd door harde-kernsupporters van een Nederlandse voetbalclub. De informatie uit deze opsporingsonderzoeken bestond onder meer uit 74.246 uitgewerkte tapgesprekken en 643 pagina’s met uitgewerkte heimelijk opgeno‐ men gesprekken in personenauto’s (tussen maart 2009 en juni 2013). De organisatie en uitvoering van de criminele activiteiten (vooral grootschalige drugshandel en afpersing) wordt daarbij gerelateerd aan de context waarbinnen deze harde-kernsupporters actief zijn. Deze context bestaat onder meer uit het regelmatig bezoeken van trainingen en wedstrijden (in binnen- en buitenland), het bezoeken van cafés en het supportershome en de subcultuur van harde-kernsupporters. De onderzoeksresultaten tonen een crimi‐ nele groep die gebruik maakt van gelegenheidsstructuren die gerelateerd zijn aan het hooliganisme.This paper describes the results of twelve criminal investigations into criminal activities of hardcore supporters of a Dutch soccer club. The information from these criminal investigations consists of among other 74,246 transcribed, wiretapped telephone conversations and 643 pages with transcribed bed, secretly recorded conversations in cars (between March 2009 and June 2013). The organization and execution of these criminal activities (particularly large-scale drugs trade and extortion) is described within the context of the daily activities of these Hard- core supporters. This context consists of regularly visiting soccer games (in the Netherlands and abroad), bars and the supporters home, and the subculture of hooliganism. The results show a criminal group using the opportunity structures related to hooliganism for carrying out criminal activities.

Criminological research over the last couple of decades has improved our understanding of cybercrimes. However, this body of research is regarded as still theoretically thin and not fully developed; more knowledge on the actors involved, their characteristics, and modus operandi is needed. Some publications recently suggested that organised crime is or might be involved in cybercrimes, which would have important policing implications, but evidence-based research on this point is still scarce and inconclusive. This article seeks to further this path of inquiry by providing a systematic analysis of 40 cases from The Netherlands, Germany, UK, and USA where criminal networks were involved in financial cybercrimes affecting the banking sector. It also assesses whether and to what extent these criminal networks meet the definitions of organised crime and discusses the theoretical and policing implications of our findings.

Case studies show that there are at least two types of groups involved in phishing: low-tech all-rounders and high-tech specialists. However, empirical criminological research into cybercriminal networks is scarce. This article presents a taxonomy of cybercriminal phishing networks, based on analysis of 18 Dutch police investigations into phishing and banking malware networks. There appears to be greater variety than shown by previous studies. The analyzed networks cannot easily be divided into two sharply defined categories. However, characteristics such as technology use and offender-victim interaction can be used to construct a typology with four overlapping categories: from low-tech attacks with a high degree of direct offender-victim interaction to high-tech attacks without such interaction. Furthermore, clear differences can be distinguished between networks carrying out low-tech attacks and high-tech attacks. Low-tech networks, for example, make no victims in other countries and core members and facilitators generally operate from the same country. High-tech networks, on the contrary, have more international components. Finally, networks with specialists focusing on one type of crime are present in both low-tech and high-tech networks. These specialist networks have more often a local than an international focus.

Two recent studies which are part of the Dutch Research Program on the Safety and Security of Online Banking, present empirical material regarding the origin, growth and criminal capabilities of cybercriminal networks carrying out attacks on customers of financial institutions. This article extrapolates upon the analysis of Dutch cases and complements the existing picture by providing insight into 22 cybercriminal networks active in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. The analysis regarding origin and growth shows that social ties play an important role in the majority of networks. These networks usually originate and grow either by means of social contacts alone or by the combined use of social contacts and forums (to recruit specialists). Equally, however, forums play a vital role within the majority of the networks by offering a place where co-offenders can meet, recruit and trade criminal ‘services’. Moreover, those networks where origin and growth is primarily based on forums appear capable of creating more flexible forms of cooperation between key members and enablers, thereby facilitating a limited number of core members to become international players. Analysis of the capabilities of criminal networks shows that all networks are primarily targeted towards customers of financial institutions, but most networks are not restricted to one type of crime. Core members are often involved in other forms of offline and online crime. The majority of networks fall into the high-tech category of networks, mostly international, high-tech networks. These are networks with core members, enablers, and victims originating from different countries.

Met zijn oratie Netwerken op niveau plaatst Toine Spapens, hoogleraar criminologie aan de Universiteit van Tilburg, zich in een traditie van Nederlandse en buitenlandse onderzoekers die sociale netwerken centraal stellen bij de beschrijving en verklaring van het verschijnsel georganiseerde criminaliteit. Misdaadorganisaties werden in het verleden vaak voorgesteld als hecht gestructureerde ‘maffia’s’, zoals we die kennen uit films als The Godfather. Maar sinds het rapport van de onderzoeksgroep Fijnaut en de rapportages op basis van de Monitor Georganiseerde Criminaliteit kan het denken in termen van sociale netwerken als een dominant paradigma worden beschouwd, zowel in de wetenschap als in de praktijk van de bestrijding van georganiseerde criminaliteit (o.a. Fijnaut e.a., 1996; Kleemans e.a., 1998; 2002; Kruisbergen e.a., 2012). In zijn oratie bespreekt Spapens eerst de geschiedenis van de studie van sociale netwerken, om vervolgens in te gaan op criminele netwerken op drie niveaus: micro-, meso- en macroniveau. Op veel punten is zijn rede prikkelend en uitdagend en geeft deze veel stof tot nadenken. Het eerste deel van de rede betreft een beschrijving van de studie van sociale netwerken. Spapens behandelt daarbij de studie van netwerken binnen gemeenschappen, binnen economische markten en binnen organisaties. Ten slotte gaat hij in op een kleiner thema binnen dit onderzoeksveld: de studie van geheime genootschappen. Na deze korte schets van het onderzoeksveld dat de studie van georganiseerde criminaliteit zo sterk heeft beinvloed, komt Spapens aan bij het centrale deel van zijn oratie: de studie van criminele netwerken op microniveau, op mesoniveau (buurten, gemeenschappen en regio’s) en op macroniveau (op landelijk en wereldniveau). Spapens begint met de studie van criminele micronetwerken en laat zien hoe gericht empirisch onderzoek korte metten heeft gemaakt met het standaardbeeld van criminele organisaties die de vorm zouden hebben van een bureaucratie met een strikte hierarchie, een taakverdeling en een sanctiesysteem, een beeld dat we niet alleen kennen uit populaire films als The Godfather, maar ook uit het beroemde boek Theft of the nation van Donald Cressey (1969). Ook gaat hij in op meer praktische toepassingen: sociale netwerkanalyse als onderzoeksmethodiek, gecombineerd met ideeen over hoe criminele netwerken

This qualitative descriptive study aims to explore (1) the extent of intergenerational continuity of crime in families of organized crime offenders, (2) the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon and (3) the mechanisms underlying intergenerational discontinuity. The study comprised a descriptive analysis of the available numeric information on 25 organized crime offenders based in Amsterdam and their 48 children of at least 19 years of age and a more qualitative in-depth analysis of police files, justice department files and child protection service files of all the family members of 14 of the 25 families. Additionally, interviews with employees of the involved organizations were conducted. In terms of prevalence in official record crime statistics, the results show that a large majority of the organized crime offenders’ sons seem to follow in their fathers’ footsteps. This is not the case for daughters, as half of them have a criminal record, but primarily for only one minor crime. Intergenerational transmission seems to be facilitated by mediating risk factors, inadequate parenting skills of the mother, the “famous” or violent reputation of the father, and deviant social learning. If we want to break the intergenerational chain of crime and violence, the results seem to suggest that an accumulation of protective factors seem to be effective, particularly for girls. For girls, supervision from a child protection service also seems to work quite well. For boys, we might need a different approach to prevent them from offending.

This article centres on the hypothesis that human trafficking for sexual exploitation is not only an organised crime activity, but a crime of relational nature as well. Therefore this study explores the relationships that exist between suspects and victims of sex trafficking, and examines to what extent the nature of sex trafficking has parallels with domestic violence. The study is based on an analysis of 12 police investigations into sex trafficking related to window prostitution in the Amsterdam red-light district in the period 2006-2010. The findings suggest that there are intimate relationships between traffickers and victims, and that these relationships display various characteristics of domestic violence. Aside from intimidation, control and violence, factors such as affection and attachment contribute to the persistency of these relationships. This empirical study shows the theoretical and practical importance of focusing on the relational aspects of sex trafficking and the use of domestic violence knowledge to help identify trafficking situations, as well as for the prosecution of cases and to provide assistance to victims. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

The murder of six young Italians shot dead in front of an Italian restaurant in Duisburg in the early hours of the 15th August 2007 marks a cut. Since then, the question came up whether Italian mafias are present and operating on German ground. This article deals with the German perception of the Italian mafias, both operating inside and outside Italy. Findings from different sources, among them science, police and media, are presented and evaluated.

Past decades have demonstrated a growth in instruments strengthening the control of police activities. Police powers are more and more regulated by law, performance management aims to boost efficiency in policing, and authority over criminal investigations has partially been centralized. This article uses unique empirical data on undercover policing in the Netherlands to gain insight into the outcomes these control mechanisms produce in investigative practice. The results indicate that investigative practise is less malleable than assumed by policy makers. Furthermore, control mechanisms can generate perverse effects.

This paper elaborates upon occupations, work relations, work settings, and their connection with organised crime activities. The analysis is based upon data from 120 case studies from the Dutch Organised Crime Monitor, involving 1623 suspects. The paper describes the different kinds of occupations encountered in cases of organised crime and the main characteristics of these occupations. Furthermore, the paper describes in more detail four cases of organised crime that illustrate the embeddedness of certain organised crime activities in work relations and work settings. Following Mars,1 the paper analyses both the grid dimension and the group dimension of certain occupations and work settings. The paper concludes that social relations as well as settings and opportunity structures provide structure to the organisation of many forms of crime, including organised crime. 1. Gerald Mars, Cheats at Work: An Anthropology of Workplace Crime (London: Unwin Paperbacks, 1982).

This paper presents the main findings of quantitative and qualitative research into the criminal careers of about 1000 offenders who were involved in 80 extensively analysed cases of organized crime. The paper analyses how and when offenders become known to the criminal justice authorities, studies in depth the criminal careers of `starters' and analyses in detail the criminal careers of (ring)leaders and `nodal' offenders. Because social ties play an important role in organized crime, the paper emphasizes that the social opportunity structure, defined as social ties providing access to profitable criminal opportunities, is extremely important for explaining involvement in organized crime. It explains why certain offenders `progress' to certain types of organized crime whereas others become involved only later on in life. Social opportunity structure may also explain interesting phenomena such as `late starters' — people without any appreciable criminal history — and people in conventional jobs who switch careers.

This special issue focuses on organized crime, terrorism and European criminology. In their article on drug trafficking and ethnic minorities in Europe, Letizia Paoli and Peter Reuter show how ethnicity can be transformed from a 'trait' into a product of social position, social ties and opportunity structures. In the second article, Rebecca Surtees describes the patterns of human trafficking from and within countries in South and Eastern Europe. The third article, by Edward Kleemans and Christianne De Poot, concerns a theoretical and empirical gap in the literature on criminal careers. The final article on the psychological processes of Jihadi radicalization, by Andrew Silke, also contributes something new to the literature on 'criminal careers'. The articles in this special issue illustrate how organized crime and terrorism research may succeed in expanding the domain of criminology, both empirically and theoretically. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

English This article provides an analysis of a cross-section of 31 evaluations in one policy field in one country during a period of two years. It offers a national profile of an evaluation effort in law enforcement and demonstrates that this cross-section diverges widely from the typical interventions evaluated under the auspices of the Campbell Collaboration. The article elaborates on an alternative methodology for assessing such evaluation studies: mapping interventions and theory-driven ‘browsing’ for evidence. It shows that most interventions are not directly aimed at individuals or clients, who may be treated in different ways, but at institutional actors, organisations or the entire law enforcement chain. Three intervention strategies are described and assessed: developing and implementing ‘new projects’; streamlining the law enforcement chain; and developing and implementing new (or amended) laws and regulations. Many working mechanisms underlying these strategies refer to behaviour inside bureaucracy, which goes beyond mere ‘implementation’. The article demonstrates that the alternative methodology is quite ‘practical’ for synthesising evaluation research on such interventions.

The prevention of violence and the pursuit of justice are two fundamental aims of civil society that have long been recognized and supported across the globe [1]. Far too often, however, they are addressed independently: one initiative focused on preventing violence and another on upholding justice. This is also the case in criminological research and scholarship, but there are some exceptions. Perhaps one of the best examples is the U.S. National Research Council’s report on fair and effective policing [2]. The report called for more concrete action to integrate these two principles in addressing crime and violence: greater use of effective policing strategies coupled with improved police fairness and legitimacy can produce better outcomes for the community [3, 4]. If society places more emphasis on the prevention of violence—in communities, schools, and families—might we be able to reduce some of the need for formal social control as well as inculcate a greater sense of justice for individuals and the community at-large? This is what Meares [5] refers to as an overt curriculum, which is rooted in democracy and fairness. If law enforcement as well as other branches of the criminal justice system exercise greater fairness toward suspected and convicted offenders, might we be able to improve police-community relations and help to reduce future acts of violence by these groups? It is these questions that guided the development of this special issue of Crime, Law and Social Change. We recognize that these are big picture questions and we do not pretend to answer them in full. Through a series of thoughtful, scholarly articles, we Crime Law Soc Change (2015) 64:205–209 DOI 10.1007/s10611-015-9594-2

Criminal organization is dependent on context, place, and time. However, in the study of organized crime, criminal organization is often conceptualized without a wider view on the context within which opportunities for criminal activities arise and in which criminal networks develop that take advantage of these opportunities. Historical research teaches us a lot about these opportunities and how criminal networks may evolve, during various periods in history within varying contexts. In this chapter, the author reviews some major theoretical notions about criminal organization: protection theory, the bureaucracy model, illegal enterprise theory, criminal networks, and situational approaches. Furthermore, the author discusses how the historical chapters in this volume provide valuable insights into the topic of criminal organization.

Er is door criminologen verrassend weinig aandacht besteed aan opsporingsvraagstuk‐ ken. Dat is begrijpelijk gezien de moeilijkheden die overwonnen moeten worden om empirisch onderzoek naar de opsporingspraktijk te kunnen verrichten. Zo blijft het een uitdaging om toegang te krijgen tot bronnen van politieen veiligheidsdiensten en om hierover in het openbaar te publiceren. Dit neemt niet weg dat kennis over de opspo‐ ringspraktijk en over de effecten daarvan onontbeerlijk is om huidige discussies over de legitimiteit van nieuwe opsporingsmiddelen en daarmee gepaard gaande privacyschen‐ dingen te kunnen voeden. Dit themanummer bevat bijdragen van auteurs die weten‐ schap en opsporingspraktijk met elkaar hebben weten te verbinden. Zij gaan in op maatschappelijk relevante onderwerpen, zoals verhoormethoden, sociale netwerkana‐ lyse binnen de opsporing, opsporing van terrorisme, zedenmisdrijven en private opspo‐ ring. Daarmee toont dit themanummer hoe empirisch onderzoek naar de opsporings‐ praktijk kan worden vormgegeven, en welke inzichten dit onderzoek biedt.

In 2000, the Dutch authorities lifted the ban on brothels in the Netherlands. The essence of their approach was to regulate prostitution. People of legal age could now voluntarily sell and purchase sexual services. Brothels which complied with certain licensing conditions were legalized. This paper critically assesses the logic of a position that argues that human trafficking is reduced when actors in the legalized prostitution sector are made responsible for what happens on their premises (using licensing conditions). This idea is confronted with empirical evidence about the Netherlands in general and the city of Amsterdam in particular. Furthermore, the paper addresses two questions. What are consequences of the regularization of prostitution for the criminal investigation and prosecution of sex trafficking? How do criminal justice agencies collaborate with regulatory authorities in the regulated and non-regulated sectors of the prostitution market? The main conclusion is that the screening of brothel owners and the monitoring of the compliance of licensing conditions do not create levels of transparency that enable sex trafficking to be exposed. The prostitution business retains many characteristics of an illegitimate market and the legalization and regulation of the prostitution sector has not driven out organized crime. On the contrary, fighting sex trafficking using the criminal justice system may even be harder in the legalized prostitution sector. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

This paper analyzes the role of women in various types of transnational organized crime and tests the ‘gendered markets’ hypothesis by Zhang et al. (Criminology 45(3):699–733 2007) for a wide cross-section of 150 cases from the Dutch Organized Crime Monitor. The main information sources for the Dutch Organized Crime Monitor are closed Dutch police investigations into criminal groups, often spanning a period of several years. Following four data sweeps, a wide cross-section of 150 cases was collected about various forms of organized crime (period 1994–2011): ‘traditional’ drug trafficking cases (cocaine, heroin, and cannabis), but also other—less frequently prioritized—phenomena such as synthetic drugs (production and export), human smuggling, human trafficking, and fraud and money laundering. The paper discusses several important theoretical perspectives from the organized crime literature: the gendered markets hypothesis; the social embeddedness of (transnational) organized crime: and the idea of brokerage. Furthermore, empirical data are presented on how often women play a (prominent) role in different types of criminal activities and which roles they play. These findings are related to the ‘gendered markets’ hypothesis and alternative explanations. Further qualitative analysis is presented on the transnational aspects which can be discerned in the studied cases: transnational marriage and transnational relationships; language and mediation; and migration and legal status. Finally, the main conclusions are discussed as well as their theoretical and empirical relevance.

Human trafficking is often confused with human smuggling. Both phenomena may be regarded as undesirable consequences of globalization. Smugglers as well as traffickers make use of other people’s desire to improve their lives by building up a better future elsewhere. Yet there are fundamental differences as well. Human smuggling primarily relates to illegal immigration and the violation of immigration laws. Human smugglers move people and provide a bridge between poor or dangerous countries and richer, safer ones. Some may have humanitarian motives to save political refugees or to help relatives or friends to build up a new life. Others unscrupulously abuse dependent illegal immigrants by demanding high prices and providing bad or even perilous travel arrangements. Usually the relationship between smugglers and smuggled persons ends after the transport to the country of destination. In human trafficking, the situation is different. Human trafficking often, but not necessarily, involves border crossing. After arrival, trafficked persons must produce profit for the traffickers. Their relationships with the traffickers, or with organizations or individuals who have paid for their delivery, are longer term, victim-exploiter relationships, in which the human rights of the victim are being abused (Kelly and Regan 2000). According to the trafficking definition in the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, using means like threat or force, deception, coercion, abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, with the purpose of exploitation (UN 2000, Article 3a). Many countries follow the aforementioned distinction between human smuggling and human trafficking in their national penal codes. However, in practice, these two phenomena can be difficult to distinguish and may be intertwined. Assisted illegal immigration may precede exploitation, as some smuggled illegal immigrants, who travel voluntarily to other countries, end up as trafficking victims in debt bondage and bad labor conditions only later on. Even the issue of mutual consent, common in human smuggling, is not always decisive in distinguishing between smuggling and trafficking (Herman 2006; Van Liempt and Doomernik 2006); trafficking also usually starts with a consensual agreement between the trafficker and the future victim (Andrees 2008). When individuals have agreed to come to another country to work in the sex industry or in other sectors, their fate may not become clear until after arrival, when they are gradually forced to do other work than they had agreed upon, or under very different circumstances than

This article addresses the nature and development of the Vietnamese involvement in cannabis cultivation in the Netherlands. The findings are based on empirical data collected from national police registrations, case studies and in-depth interviews with over 30 Dutch and international respondents. The authors describe the background characteristics of Vietnamese cannabis farmers, the structure of the predominantly mono-ethnic Vietnamese criminal groups and the international context. A situational approach to organised crime is applied to illustrate the 'emergent' character of the Vietnamese crime groups as opposed to a 'strategic' context of organised crime. The Vietnamese supervisors in the Netherlands have legal citizenship and often have 'careers' in cannabis-related crimes. It would appear that for a Vietnamese gardener or farmer, the path into cannabis cultivation is linked to financial debt. Besides situational factors, group characteristics, such as the migrant community, seem important in understanding the Vietnamese involvement in the Dutch cannabis market. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

This article uses open sources to focus on the presence of Italian Mafia members and Italian Mafia groups in the Netherlands and examine the nature of their activities. Italian Mafia members and Italian Mafia groups have been active in the Netherlands since the 1980s, particularly in Amsterdam and its surroundings. The main conclusion drawn is that the Netherlands is used as a ‘hub’ to connect to the international trade in illegal goods, particularly narcotics. Known cases confirm the findings that Italians migrate to the Netherlands and sometimes invest in legal activities (e.g. pizzerias), whereas settled migrants sometimes perform odd jobs for Italian Mafia members. The Netherlands is also used as a refuge for Italian Mafia members on the run. To date, there is no sound evidence from open sources that extortion is part of the criminal activities that are performed in the Netherlands and the fact that there is a close intermingling of the upper world and the underworld is not supported by the available evidence.

Online forums serve as offender convergence settings for cybercriminals, but it is unknown whether all cybercriminal networks use forums. Important questions are how cybercriminals meet, how cybercriminal networks develop and what this means for the criminal capabilities of these networks. To gain insight into these questions, we analysed 18 criminal investigations into phishing and malware networks and developed four models of growth. Social ties still play an important role in the origin and growth of the majority of networks. Forums, however, also play a significant role in a number of networks, for example, to find suitable co-offenders or to get into contact with enablers. Criminals with access to forums are able to increase criminal capabilities of their network relatively quickly.