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This article on intergenerational transmission of crime in families is based on a study of seven families of which at least one member held a key position in an organized crime group. The authors retrieved information on at least three generations (preceding and succeeding this key member’s generation) to investigate whether transmissions occurred, and if so, how these might be explained. Throughout the generations, the majority of family members indeed have criminal records. However, it seems to be less easy to transfer criminal leadership in organized crime from one generation to the next. Leading a criminal group seems to demand qualities that are not transferred easily. Successful successors appear to be able to establish their own networks within the deviant subcultures from which they stem. This also explains the persistence of criminal behaviour: both men and women select their friends and partners from these closed communities and seem to prefer for their social and love relationships those who have already developed substantial criminal track records. Organized crime families in North Brabant took advantage of criminal opportunities that were presented to them over the years. Particularly XTC production, starting in the 1990s, allowed them to step up their criminal activities from the local to the global level. In addition, they may have capitalized on a moral economy with sentiments of subordination present in the province of North Brabant, dating back to the seventeenth century, which resulted in a more reserved attitude towards authorities than in other parts of the Netherlands. Finally, law enforcement agencies have been generally slow to respond to developments in criminal opportunities that benefited these seven families.

Patients with psychopathy need intensive care and supervision. There is however reluctance to treat them because of (supposedly) limted chances of success and risk of therapy-interfering behavior. This study focused on inpatient disruptive behavior in mentally disordered offenders during medium security treatment. Patients (N = 224) were assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised total, factor and facet scores and divided into three groups depending on the presence of low, medium, and high psychopathy traits. Associations between psychopathy and criminogenic risk and need factors were analyzed. Additionally, the association between psychopathy and therapy-interfering behavior (non-compliance, drop-out, institutional misconduct) was investigated with correlational and logistic regression analyses. The results showed that psychopathy was associated with greater risk, needs, and therapy-interfering behavior. PCL-R Factor 2 predicted institutional misconduct, whereas PCL-R Factor 1 predicted drop-out from treatment. The study highlights the importance of responsive treatment climates in retaining this difficult-to-treat group in treatment.

Structured risk assessment has become a part of routine practice in forensic settings. However, little attention has been paid to the clinical applicability of existing tools. The present research focused on the performance of the Historical Clinical Risk Management-20 (HCR-20) – one of the most commonly used tools for structured professional judgment – in the daily practice of three medium security units in Flanders. Areas under the curve for the prediction of violent recidivism during (N = 168) and after (N = 105) medium security treatment were non-significant. In addition, analyses showed that the HCR-20 was mainly of interest in identifying low-risk individuals. Further research measuring different aspects of predictive validity in applied settings is recommended.Keywords: Risk assessment, structured professional judgment, HCR-20, forensic psychiatry, field validity

AimTo examine the criminal outcome of Flemish forensic psychiatric patients (‘internees’) after medium security treatment. Also, the effect of conditional release on recidivism of two subgroups (internees under conditional release and internees who received unconditional release) was examined.MethodReconviction rates and revocation rates were collected for all participants. Kaplan–Meier survival analyses were used to investigate recidivism rates while controlling for time at risk.ResultsDuring the 10-year period, 502 offenders were discharged from medium security treatment. Over a follow-up period averaging 3.6 years, 7.4% of discharged patients were reconvicted or received a new ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ (NGRI) verdict for a violent offence. One-quarter of the population had their conditional release revoked. Part of the study population was granted unconditional release. Reconviction rates were higher after unconditional release in comparison to conditional release.ConclusionsThe results of this study suggest that the court supervision of NGRI patients in Flanders is effective in protecting the community from further offending.KeywordsRecidivism, Conditional release, Forensic psychiatric patients, Mental health supervision, Medium security treatment

Recently the controversy about the police use of force has increased within The Netherlands. Simultaneously it has become clear that courts have provided divergent judgments in these cases; some have sentenced and others have acquitted police officers. Whereas victims of the police use of force increasingly ask for the prosecution of these officials, others demand to change the reporting procedure in favor of the officer’s legal position. This research explains how the reporting procedure for these cases is construed under Dutch law – particularly regarding the serious use of force – seeing that such a contribution currently lacks in (inter)national legal literature. Besides, it examines to what extent the abovementioned procedure violates the officer’s right against forced self-incrimination under the ECHR. This research concludes, in absence of a court ruling, that the procedure is incompatible with the ECHR when the evidence that follows from the officers’ duty to notify is admissible in criminal procedures.

Recent neuropsychologisch onderzoek suggereert dat detentie leidt tot achteruitgang van belangrijke hersenfuncties bij gedetineerden. Een mogelijke verklaring voor die achteruitgang is de verarmde (versoberde) detentieomgeving, waarmee een omgeving met weinig lichamelijke, geestelijke en sociale activiteit wordt bedoeld. Verschillende hersenfuncties zijn cruciaal voor een succesvolle resocialisatie. Een andere onderzoekslijn binnen de psychologie onderzoekt de relatie tussen voeding en agressie bij gedetineerden, waarbij ook de mogelijkheid van voedingsinterventies wordt onderzocht. In deze bijdrage worden de mogelijke implicaties van dergelijk (neuro)psychologisch onderzoek voor de Nederlandse detentieomgeving geanalyseerd in het licht van het resocialisatiebeginsel.

Het gerechtshof Den Haag heeft op 16 maart 2017 uitspraak gedaan in de zaak Bart van U. Anders dan de rechtbank acht het hof Van U. niet ontoerekeningsvatbaar. In het arrest formuleert het hof een criterium voor ontoerekeningsvatbaarheid dat het Nederlands strafrecht voorheen niet kende. In deze bijdrage wordt het door het hof ontwikkelde criterium besproken waarbij wordt ingegaan op een drietal punten. Ten eerste wordt betoogd dat het criterium in feite een opeenstapeling is van twee criteria die in de Amerikaanse rechtspraak worden gehanteerd bij de beoordeling van de vraag of sprake is van legal insanity. Ten tweede wordt ingegaan op het causaal verband dat het hof vereist tussen de psychische stoornis en het delict als voorwaarde voor ontoerekeningsvatbaarheid. Ten derde worden de implicaties van de door het hof gekozen term ‘wederrechtelijkheid’ besproken. We besluiten met een aanbeveling.

Dit boek bevat de resultaten van een rechtsvergelijkend onderzoek naar de tweeledige vraag a) welke werkwijzen Duitsland, Engeland (en Wales), Ierland en Italië (naast Nederland) hanteren voor het in beslag nemen en confisqueren van vermogen met een vermoedelijk criminele herkomst in situaties zonder vervolgbare of veroordeelde dader, en b) tegen welke belemmeringen de Ne-derlandse autoriteiten en de autoriteiten in de genoemde landen aanlopen in geval van grensover-schrijdende samenwerking in dergelijke gevallen. Specifieke aandacht gaat in dit onderzoek uit naar beslag en confiscatie van i) criminele opbrengsten onder zogenoemde ‘windhappers’ (perso-nen die geen (of nauwelijks) geregistreerd inkomen hebben, maar wel veel geld te besteden heb-ben), ii) erfenissen die (geheel of ten dele) bestaan uit de opbrengsten van (vermoede) strafbare activiteiten van de erflater, iii) tegoeden die zijn aangetroffen op onbeheerde bankrekeningen, en iv) (grote) hoeveelheden cash geld die zijn aangetroffen zonder dat een relatie tot een bepaalde persoon valt aan te wijzen. Daarmee biedt dit boek inzicht in de wettelijke voorzieningen aan-gaande beslag en confiscatie in Duitsland, Engeland, Ierland en Italië, alsmede van de samen-werking inzake beslag en confiscatie in deze vier landen en Nederland.

Facilitadores Judiciales is a programme run by the Organization of the American States and the Nicaraguan judiciary. In 2010, facilitators were recruited and trained in many but not all urban municipalities. This presented an opportunity for a natural experiment to assess the impact of the programme. In our theoretical framework the impact is related to improved access to justice which is one of the prerequisites for peace and development. Before and after quantitative and qualitative studies were conducted in intervention and control areas. The quantitative results show confirmation of some of the hypothesized effects of the programme. Other effects are indicated by the numerous in-depth interviews but are not substantiated by hard data. In the communities where facilitators were intro- duced the people report fewer legal problems. The facilitators are decreasing the costs of justice. Achieving amicable solutions and promotion of peace and social cohesion is another example of the programme’s impact.

The Amsterdam Red Light District is famous for its sex-oriented businesses. Although prostitution was legalized in 2000, this did not end some of its criminal side effects, particularly the trafficking in women. In an effort to combat human trafficking in the district, the local authorities launched the Emergo project in 2007. The core of the project is a multi-agency approach in which the municipality, the police, the public prosecution service and the Tax and Customs Administration cooperate closely. In addition to improving the effectiveness of repressive action against criminal infrastructures, additional legislation such as the criminalization of clients is also considered necessary to compensate for the shortcomings of regulatory measures.

Background: A stable assessment of cognition is of paramount importance for forensic psychiatric patients (FPP). The purpose of this study was to compare repeated measures of IQ scores in FPPs with and without intellectual disability. Methods: Repeated measurements of IQ scores in FPPs (n = 176) were collected. Differences between tests were computed, and each IQ score was categorized. Additionally, t-tests and regression analyses were performed. Results: Differences of 10 points or more were found in 66% of the cases comparing WAIS-III with RAVEN scores. Fisher’s exact test revealed differences between two WAIS-III scores and the WAIS categories. The WAIS-III did not predict other IQs (WAIS or RAVEN) in participants with intellectual disability. Discussion: This study showed that stability or interchangeability of scores is lacking, especially in individuals with intellectual disability. Caution in interpreting IQ scores is therefore recommended, and the use of the unitary concept of IQ should be discouraged.

This article develops a victimological perspective on international criminal justice, based on a review of the main victimological characteristics of international crimes: the complicity of government agencies, the large numbers of victims involved and the peculiar position of victims of international crimes, who at the time of the commission of the crimes are viewed as perpetrators and/or beyond the moral sphere, rather than as victims. Key elements of the framework concern the external coherence of the criminal justice reaction – the interlinking of criminal justice with other reparative efforts – as well as its internal coherence – the extent to which the procedures of international criminal justice are aligned with what it realistically can and should achieve. This latter aspect of coherence is used in an examination of victims’ rights in international criminal justice procedures.

Legal insanity is a peculiar element of criminal law, because it brings together two very different disciplines: psychiatry and psychology on the one hand and the law on the other. One of the basic questions regarding evaluations of defendants concerns the question of who should establish “true mental disorder,” the judge or the behavioral expert? This question is complicated, and in this contribution it will be explored based on a Dutch case that was eventually decided by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). We will argue that the ECtHR provides a valuable legal framework. Based on its merits, the framework could also be of interest to countries outside the Court’s jurisdiction.

This study aims to construct a consolidated crime script of cross-border illicit waste trafficking by analysing similarities in modus operandi. In addition, factors enabling illicit waste trafficking were studied. Research questions were analysed from a situational crime prevention point of view by applying crime script analysis to 13 judiciary case studies of illicit cross-border waste trafficking obtained from the Netherlands, Italy and Finland. The findings suggest that the potential offender usually has advanced knowledge of the waste market and of the legislation and regulation. The case studies also suggest that the lack and misuse of appropriate licenses and falsified documentation, as well as taking advantage of illicit and licit networks in facilitating activities, are prevailing characteristics in the illicit cross-border trafficking of waste. Despite the small number of cases, the findings imply the need to focus crime prevention efforts on the early stages of the crime commission process, such as planning the crime.

Starting in the 1970s, the Netherlands developed a regulatory regime for narcotic drugs by distinguishing between hashish and marihuana (“soft drugs”) and other drugs (“hard drugs”). The authorities decided to cease prosecuting the possession of consumer quantities of the former type and to allow the sale of soft drugs at “coffee shops”. However, they did little to control the activities of coffee shop operators, whereas the supply of soft drugs to the shops remained illegal. In this paper, we review the ongoing debate on the soft drug policy in the Netherlands and analyze it from the perspective of the regulation of illegal markets.