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Purpose Insecurities and social isolation resulting from the COVID-19 restrictions, may have elevated tensions at home, consequently increasing the risk of domestic violence. The present study aims to examine changes in the prevalence, nature, and type of reporter of domestic violence following the various restrictions implemented to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the Netherlands. Methods All official domestic violence reports recorded by the 26 Dutch domestic violence agencies in 2019 and 2020 were collected and analyzed. Time-series forecasting analyses, using a SARIMAX model, were conducted to predict the trend of domestic violence reports during the first lockdown and to compare the predicted trend with the observed trend. Results The observed trend of the registered prevalence of domestic violence did not substantially differ from the predicted trend based on pre-pandemic data. Similarly, findings regarding the nature of domestic violence suggest no clear divergence of pre-pandemic trends during the lockdown period. Nonetheless, a shift was found from professional reporters (e.g., the police) to non-professional reporters (e.g., neighbors). Conclusions The prevalence of domestic violence reports in the Netherlands did not increase. However, the COVID-19 restrictions may have led citizens, especially neighbors, to detect domestic violence more often., Author(s): Anne Coomans [sup.1] [sup.2] , David Kühling-Romero [sup.1] , Sjoukje van Deuren [sup.1] [sup.2] , Meintje van Dijk [sup.1] [sup.2] , Steve van de Weijer [sup.1] , Arjan Blokland [...]

This article contributes to the debate in terrorism research on how unique terrorist suspects (i.e. individuals suspected of crimes with terrorist intent) actually are and whether or not specific theories are necessary to explain their behavior. Our study compares terrorist suspects from the Netherlands with their siblings and nonterrorist suspects to find out whether and how terrorist suspects are unique. Inspired by criminological theories involving social bonds, regression analyses were conducted utilizing registry data on household compositions, socio-economic status (SES), and criminal histories. A key finding is that terrorist suspects seem to have more in common with other suspects than with their siblings; besides prior criminal involvement, no significant differences were found between terrorist suspects and other suspects. Terrorist suspects were significantly less often married, had a lower SES, and were more often previously suspected of crimes as compared to their siblings. Particularly, lacking employment is a differentiating factor for terrorist suspects and siblings. Our findings stress the necessity to investigate in-depth under what circumstances and how a disadvantaged background (e.g. lack of social bonds, criminal history) can lead to becoming a terrorist suspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the influence of social capital, subjective changes and post-release resource disadvantages on women's desistance and reentry pathways. Using a sample of 1478 formerly incarcerated women, we estimate logistic hybrid random-effects models to assess the influence of several factors on offending during a 7-year follow-up period. We use interviews with a subsample of women to explore the mechanisms underlying the quantitative findings. Results show that the effect of often-studied forms of social control are to a large degree dependent on (unmeasured) individual differences and circumstances, such as pre- and post-incarceration adversities, and the quality of forms of social control. A desire to desist from crime is often blocked by severe resource advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hardly any research exists that empirically compares (near-)domestic and cross-border sex trafficking. The few studies that do are based on relatively small samples and only represent US data. This study substantially extends the scarce scientific knowledge about the differences between the two types of sex trafficking, based on European data. Our sample consists of all 658 (near-)domestic sex traffickers and all 424 cross-border sex traffickers, registered by the prosecution service in 2008–2017 who are brought to court in the Netherlands. We collected data on these traffickers from registers of the prosecution service, from a file analyses on the indictments/verdicts, and from registers of Statistics Netherlands. These data provide insight into the characteristics of the traffickers, their victims and modus operandi. Our findings show that significant differences between the two types of sex trafficking exist, which is of great importance for better tailored prevention and identification strategies. The most prominent finding is that the threshold to get involved in (near-)domestic sex trafficking is lower than for cross-border sex trafficking. (Near-)domestic sex traffickers are, compared to cross-border sex traffickers, younger (as are their victims), they seldom need to migrate, they operate on a smaller scale (more one-to-one and for a shorter period of time) and practically never in a criminal organization. Furthermore, they use violent means of coercion to control their victims more frequently than cross-border sex traffickers, which can be interpreted as additional evidence for a less organized practice. These findings contribute to a more complete understanding of sex trafficking, in particular of the traffickers who were seldom the direct subject of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various studies have shown that convicted offenders often face difficulties in finding employment. These studies, however, only examined traditional types of crime and little is known about the job opportunities of convicted cybercrime offenders. Therefore, this study examines the influences of being convicted for a cybercrime on labour market chances in the IT sector in the Netherlands. An experiment was conducted in which fictitious job applications were sent to existing job openings between March and June 2021 (N = 300), varying for type of crime (cybercrime, property crime, no offence) and ethnic background (Dutch or Turkish). In order to test the hypotheses, logistic regression analyses were carried out to test whether differences in responses were significant. No significant differences in positive responses were found between cybercrime offenders and non-offenders, implying that cybercrime offenders do not have less labour market opportunities. Moreover, significant differences were found between Dutch and Turkish applicants. The results of this study indicate that results from previous studies on job opportunities of traditional offenders are not generalisable to cybercrime offenders. Possibly, a cybercrime record gives a positive signal of IT-skills that are useful for employees, while a criminal record for a property crime is associated with negative characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]