This editorial focuses on traditional types of property crime in the Netherlands and Belgium, such as burglary and theft, and property crimes involving mobile organised crime groups (MOCGs) originating from Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and the Balkan countries. Over the past four decades, a relatively limited number of studies addressed specific types of traditional property crime, but in both countries a body of literature focusing on target selection by residential burglars has been established. Overall, a wide range of perpetrators can be identified, for example individual opportunists; itinerant groups which mostly originate from urban networks who commit property crimes in their areas of residence, but also in other parts of the country and abroad; and foreign mobile organised crime groups. Similar to observations in other countries, traditional property crime also dropped substantially in the Low Countries, although since 2022 figures regarding for instance car theft, theft of vehicle parts, e-bikes, and pickpocketing have started to increase. A solid explanation for both the crime drop and the recent rise in crime levels cannot be provided, although the latter is associated with increased activity of MOCGs, which may now be responsible for a quarter to one-third of traditional property crime. Highly professional MOCGs from Eastern Europe, and Lithuania in particular, focus on burglary, theft of expensive cars and e-bikes, agricultural produce and equipment, and theft of car parts, such as navigation, steering, and airbags. MOCGs originating from South-Eastern Europe and the Balkan countries are often composed of men, women and children and focus for instance on shoplifting, pickpocketing, residential burglary, metal theft and (forced) begging. In both cases, some members, particularly minors but also adults, can be considered victims of criminal exploitation. |
Tijdschrift voor Criminologie
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Redactioneel |
Vermogenscriminaliteit en mobiel banditisme: introductie |
Trefwoorden | traditional property crime, Itinerant crime groups, crime drop, routine activities theory, criminal exploitation |
Auteurs | Toine Spapens, Dina Siegel en Tom Vander Beken |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Artikel |
Samenwerking bij de Duits-Nederlandse aanpak van plofkrakenOver knallen, cashen en keuzes maken |
Trefwoorden | cross-border police cooperation, transnational crime, complexity in collaboration, collaborative governance, collaborative platform |
Auteurs | Hans Blaauw |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Transnational crime demands an effective international police cooperation. Throughout the years it seems difficult to realise a durable cross-border collaboration. This article presents findings regarding the research on Dutch-German collaboration on combatting attacks on ATMs. A challenge in this particular field of crime is the mobility of the offenders, often crossing national borders. A significant part of the offenders originate from the Netherlands. The findings are based on interviews with relevant actors in the cooperation and, among others, on analysis of relevant documents. The article suggests that the concept of collaborative governance provides useful insights for a better understanding international police cooperation. This mode of governance brings multiple stakeholders together in common forums to engage in consensus-oriented decision making. Based on this concept, the research identifies a series of factors that influence further collaboration. Due to an increase in the number of stakeholders the collaboration is becoming more complex. As a result it has arrived at a crossroad where there is a choice between continuing on the same route or heading for a different concept of collaboration. |
Artikel |
Waar letten inbrekers op?Hoe observeren van inbrekers in een virtual reality omgeving en hardop-denken rapportage ons inzicht kan verdiepen in waar inbrekers op letten |
Trefwoorden | criminal decision-making, virtual environments, retrospective think aloud, burglary, multimethod approach |
Auteurs | Carmen-Silva Sergiou, Henk Elffers en Jean-Louis van Gelder |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
This article introduces an innovative method that combines virtual reality (VR) with a think-aloud protocol to gain insights into the cognitive processes preceding burglary offenses from the offender’s perspective. Applied in a study involving 200 incarcerated burglars, it explores their decision-making while they navigate virtual neighbourhoods. The retrospective think-aloud method yields valuable insights in criminology, providing detailed information directly from the burglar’s viewpoint. This approach reduces memory errors and more closely approximates the actual thought process leading to burglary choices. The VR-RTA method unveils novel insights into burglars’ decision-making, contributing to the development of more effective prevention and intervention strategies. |
Artikel |
Criminele uitbuiting door mobiele bendes |
Trefwoorden | property crime, human trafficking, situational crime prevention, law enforcement, itenerant crime groups |
Auteurs | Melina Mouris, Toine Spapens en Dina Siegel |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Property crime committed by itinerant offender groups originating from Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, as well as the Balkan countries, is a problem that confronts almost all countries in North-Western and Western Europe. An underexposed problem is that the members of such perpetrator groups not only commit crimes voluntarily, but may also be forced and considered victims of criminal exploitation. This paper examines how mobile organised crime groups (MOCGs) operate in this regard, which opportunity structures they use, and how public and private actors may better tackle criminal exploitation in the context of mobile banditry. The causes are complex and a combination of individual characteristics of offenders and victims, the effectiveness with which offender groups can organise their criminal business processes, and systemic factors such as the economic and social disadvantaged positions of individuals and the communities they come from. A combination of repression, prevention, and increasing the resilience of individuals and communities is therefore needed, in close cooperation between countries of origin and destination of MOCGs. |
Artikel |
Vermogenscriminaliteit op het platteland |
Trefwoorden | traditional property crime, rural criminology, mobile banditry, urbanisation and crime, rural policing |
Auteurs | Emma Jaspaert en Toine Spapens |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Criminologists, also in the Netherlands, traditionally focus their research primarily on urban areas. This, however, does not imply that rural areas are not confronted with crime problems. This paper first addresses the question what in the Dutch context should be understood by the term rural and then analyses property crimes in rural municipalities and local teams of the National Police. The paper is based on public data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics and the police. The findings replicate results of previous research which concluded that urbanisation is an important factor in explaining crime rates, which are generally lower in non-urban areas. This does, however, not imply that all types of property crime occur less in every individual rural municipality or police team. Some rural municipalities and non-urban police teams seem more susceptible to this than others, and further research is required to explain these differences. |
Boekbespreking |
Beyond the shadow of a doubt. The prosecution of terrorism financing in European courts |
Auteurs | Nathanael Tilahun |
Auteursinformatie |
Boekbespreking |
Essays on welfare benefits, employment, and crime |
Auteurs | Ilka van de Werve |
Auteursinformatie |