The current vignette experiment among 414 students in the Netherlands explores the effect of the police response on willingness to cooperate and examines whether this relationship is mediated by perceptions of the legitimacy of the police. This is done based on Tyler’s procedural justice theory and previous research among crime victims. The police response in the vignette was manipulated in two ways: the police offered a fair/unfair treatment and had/had not performed investigative actions. There was no police contact in a control group. The results suggest a positive effect of the police response on willingness to cooperate and imply that this relationship is mediated by perceived trust in the police.

Valid interpretation of quasi-experimental effect evaluation studies using propensity score matching is in need of a more detailed coverage of non-matched cases in both experimental and comparison group. The argument is illustrated using a number of recent Dutch criminological studies.

Eyetracking enabled the authors to study eye movements of 23 participants who looked at crime scene photographs. The authors measured the emotions elicited by the photographs, as well as perceptions of seriousness and the sentence that participants would give the perpetrator of the crime. Also, individual differences in disgust sensitivity were taken into account. Results show a positive relationship between disgust sensitivity and both the proportion of fixations as well as the number of fixations on gruesome aspects of the photos (the blood and the wound), emotion ratings of the photographs, perceptions of seriousness, and the sentence given. Implications, limitations, and future directions of the research are discussed.

The retail sale of cannabis in coffee shops is tolerated in the Netherlands, provided that certain criteria are met. Two criteria were added in 2012: the private club and the residence criterion. The plan was to implement them first in the southern provinces and later in the other provinces. This created an opportunity for a natural experiment. In an experimental group of seven municipalities in the south and a matched comparison group of municipalities in the other part of the country pre- and post-measurements were conducted. The size of the drug tourism, the number of visits to coffee shops, the illegal cannabis consumer market and the nuisance experienced in the direct vicinity of coffee shops was assessed. Robust changes occurred in the experimental group after implementation of the new criteria. Initial differences between the groups and variation in local implementation caused doubts about drawing causal conclusions. This article analyzes whether such conclusions can be drawn. We conclude that due to the broad design of the research it appears that the observed changes can be attributed to the new criteria despite the methodological shortcomings in the study.

This study investigates the effect of providing information about decision making on aggression of clients of the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency (UWV). The expectation is that providing adequate information leads to a decrease in aggression, because it influences feelings of informational justice and frustration. UWV-clients (N=1.415) participated in an experimental scenario study (adequate vs. limited information providing). Next to aggression, psychological, UWV and social demographic characteristics were measured. Compared to limited information, receiving adequate information results in lower aggression. Clients with more negative affect show more aggression, but receiving adequate information especially reduces aggression in these clients.

In a vignette study, we investigated the extent to which factors may mitigate the relative ‘unattractiveness’ of one-time offenders as cohabitation partners. These factors include having a job, not having a criminal record and the amount of time that has passed since the offence was committed. This was done by asking students to advise a hypothetical person whether he or she should start cohabiting with his or her partner who had offended once. The factors of interest were systematically varied. Our findings showed a more positive cohabitation advice when the offender had committed the offence relatively long ago. Our findings also showed a more positive cohabitation advice when the offender was employed. This is an important finding, as this may indicate that being employed also helps ex-offenders getting their lives back on track with respect to cohabitation.

Previous research showed that job applicants with a criminal record have lower chances of obtaining employment compared to job applicants with no criminal record. At the same time empirical studies showed that having a job is especially beneficial for ex-delinquents, as employment was found to lower recidivism. The current study uses an experimental design to look into the influence of a criminal record on employment chances. For this purpose, 520 resumes and motivation letters were sent in response to vacancies published on the internet. All were identical except for the stated offence type (no offence, violent offence, property offence, or sexual offence), duration between conviction and application, business sector and ethnicity of the applicant. Results show no effect for type of offence or no offence on employment chances. However, a strong effect is found for ethnicity. Ethnic minorities with no conviction were even found to have lower chances of receiving a positive reaction compared to applicants with a Dutch name and a conviction for a violent offence.

Mobile identification techniques will, in the near future, make it possible to rapidly analyze DNA and fingerprint traces during a crime scene investigation, compare them with reference samples, and use the results in the investigation. In this experimental study the influence of these rapid analysis results on the formation of hypotheses, and of database matches in these results on the interpretation of traces by Crime Scene Investigators (CSIs) in the Netherlands was studied. A group of CSIs (N=65) conducted a simulated crime scene investigation. The analysis results as well as the moment these were provided were manipulated. The results show that the analysis results influence the formation of hypotheses by CSIs, and that this influence is time-dependent. Judgments by CSIs regarding the importance of traces were shown not to be influenced by database matches.

This paper examines the relationship between imprisonment length and registered recidivism. The data come from a unique longitudinal and nationwide study of Dutch male prisoners, serving an average of 4.1 months of confinement (N=1,467). Ideally an experimental design would be appropriate to examine the influence of different sentence lengths on recidivism. In order to approximate such a design using observational data, we adopt a propensity score methodology to control for selection bias in the dose-response relationship. Using a six-month follow-up, we do not find significant differences in post-release recidivism between men who spent shorter or longer periods of time in confinement. We discuss the pros and cons of the methodology applied as well as potential implications of the findings.

This paper tries to answer the question why defendants use violence against police officers and whether, and if so how, they construct justifications for their own behavior. The study consists of an analysis of the situational aspects of violence against police officers and the characteristics of suspects. In addition, some suspects were interviewed about the incident in which they were involved. They were asked what their perception of the situation was, and what the background of the violence was. They were also asked for their opinion on the image of the police in general, and for their knowledge and perception of the relevant laws and regulations. The conclusion is that the motives for violence against a police officer lie in their belief that all men, police officer or not, are equal and should be treated with respect. Suspects feel treated unfairly and disrespectfully by police officers. Suspects feel that in such cases they are entitled to use force. Suspects are not aware of the differences between their own rights and responsibilities in such a situation and the authority that police officers legally have to use of force in order to perform their legal tasks.

In today’s society, full use is made of online banking. This makes safety and security of online banking an important issue. Two significant threats to users of online banking in The Netherlands are phishing and malware attacks. In this study, an end-user perspective is adopted to study customers’ perceptions regarding safety and security of online banking. A unique feature to this study is that we explore – besides other predictor variables – the relationship between online banking fraud victimization and risk perception. We have made a distinction between three types of victimization: 1) self-experienced victimization, 2) victimization of acquaintances, such as family and friends, and 3) having heard of stories in the media about online banking fraud victimization. Based on a secondary analysis of data from 1200 Dutch users of online banking, collected through an online survey, we conclude that participants perceive their risk of online banking fraud to be small. In general, participants have little experience with victimization, both themselves (2.3%) and in social settings (29.6%). Three quarters of the respondents (75.6%) are aware of victimization of online banking fraud by means of media coverage. Direct and indirect victimization, however, have almost no influence on risk perception regarding online banking fraud. Risk perception is mainly determined by perceived vulnerability, that is, the estimated probability of becoming a victim of online banking fraud. Furthermore, perceived severity or impact of online banking fraud and the degree of trust in online banking contribute to some extent to risk perception. In total, 64.0% of variance in risk perception was explained by the predictors perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, locus of control, trust in online banking, (in)direct experiences with victimization (self, acquaintances and media) and demographic variables (gender, age, educational level and work status). The results of this study may help to improve communication about risks regarding online banking.

This article addresses disaster recovery preparedness characteristics prescribed by literature and guidelines. An exploratory study was conducted in 25 Dutch safety regions to describe the status of disaster recovery preparedness with an emphasis on psychosocial support aspects. The study pointed at substantial cross-regional variation. Particular areas of improvement were identified in relation to involving citizens and partner organizations in safety regions’ recovery planning efforts, and the extent to which preparedness activities are guided by regional risk profiles. Optimization of preparedness takes place in an everyday context where relatively little priority is assigned to disaster recovery. Also, as major crises are fairly scarce there is little room for learning or routinization. Deliberate investments to enhance disaster recovery preparedness are needed, they would however benefit from more research into the association between relevant conditions, the disaster recovery preparedness level and the quality of service delivery when an event actually takes place.

In the field of restorative justice (RJ), relatively much is known about victims’ reasons for wanting to participate in either mediation (as part of the criminal process) or victim-offender contact (parallel to the criminal process). Much less is known, however, about why victims refuse to take part in RJ services. The current article sheds light on this issue and is based on a joint exploratory research initiative by Victim in Focus and Victim Support the Netherlands. The results indicate that participation in mediation and victim-offender contact is significantly associated with the type of offense. Victims of traffic accidents participate significantly less often in mediation than victims of other offenses. In case of victim-offender contact, victims of violent crimes participate significantly less often while victims of traffic accidents participate more often than victims of other crimes. In addition, the referrer of the case and the victim’s age are also significantly associated with participation in victim-offender contact. When a case was referred through the judicial stakeholders, victims more often did not participate, whereas when victims registered themselves, it more often led to a form of victim-offender contact. With regard to age, victims younger than 25 were significantly less often willing to participate than older victims. The specific reasons victims mention for not wanting to participate in RJ are twofold: both emotional and pragmatic reasons are mentioned. The latter were most common with regard to both mediation and victim-offender contact: victims primarily wonder ‘what’s in it for me?’ and seem to base their decision on whether to partake in RJ on its answer. Mentioning emotional reasons not to participate was in case of victim-offender contact significantly associated with judicial referrers of the case, while such reasons were less mentioned when a case was referred through victim support in The Netherlands. To further explore these associations, more research is needed.