Brunilda Pali described in 2015 the work of the American digital and media artist Sharon Daniel (University of California in Santa Cruz) in a special publication as a result of an interdisciplinary, international arts research collaboration. The new-media documentary Inside the Distance was shown in the StuK Art Center Leuven in that period and included fragments of restorative justice encounters. It was an effort to test the potential for activist art practice to have a direct role in changing social conditions. To hear about what the project meant for Sharon Daniel, but also about her current work ánd to explore how art can further play a role in changing justice, Ivo Aertsen and Annemieke Wolthuis interviewed Sharon Daniel and Brunilda Pali. More stories were shared to combine art and restorative justice.

In this essay Peter Vermeersch, a social scientist and writer, describes his personal journey to the world of restorative justice. It starts with a group encounter between inmates and victims of non-related crimes in a Belgian prison. As one of the participants in this meeting the author discusses his experience as the victim of a robbery. He also gives an account of his experience as member of a jury trial for a murder case in Brussels, about which he published a book (2019). Vermeersch reflects on his role as juror, illuminates the short-comings of the justice system and its old-fashioned architecture, and most importantly, observes the complex human realities that hide behind the standard images of offenders, victims and other people involved in a crime. In this context, he asks what justice is, thinks about what the role of punishment and retribution can be, and, more broadly, discusses the potential of citizens’ participation and deliberation in issues of public interest. The essay includes several references to film, poetry and other literature that challenges stereotypical images of good and evil. It concludes with a discussion of the wider societal meaning and possible role of restorative justice.

Brunilda Pali described in 2015 the work of the American digital and media artist Sharon Daniel (University of California in Santa Cruz) in a special publication as a result of an interdisciplinary, international arts research collaboration. The new-media documentary Inside the Distance was shown in the StuK Art Center Leuven in that period and included fragments of restorative justice encounters. It was an effort to test the potential for activist art practice to have a direct role in changing social conditions. Brunilda Pali said: ‘In interacting with Sharon Daniel, we had the opportunity to create a focused dialogue, addressing the intersection of artistic and social practices. This project has brought together, research, art, theory, and practice in a very innovative and interesting way.’ The exhibition also investigated whether a new imagining of affect and responsiveness is possible through the use of specific visual, narrative, poetic, and formal frameworks. These reflections reveal the uniqueness of the work of Sharon Daniel and can also be seen as ‘art for social change’ by showing stories of marginalized people who otherwise are not heard.

Using digital (online) means (for example video calling) to facilitate communication between victims, offenders and mediators during victim-offender mediation (VOM) is not common practice, but has been employed more frequently during the corona pandemic. Do such digital means have added value for restorative justice practices, even when corona measures no longer hinder offline communication? This contribution shares some of the findings from the PhD project of Florian Bonensteffen, that focuses on the potential (dis) advantages of implementing digital communication and technologies in the VOM field in the Netherlands. In a qualitative study based on interviews with victims, offenders and mediators, the perceived applicability and ease of using digital communication forms in the VOM process were examined. Findings indicate that such forms are perceived to promote the emotional well-being of victims and offenders in cases where meeting face-to-face might be too stressful (e.g. due to fear), as well as can provide for a richer exchange than current offline forms of letter exchanges or shuttle mediation. Perceived interpersonal disadvantages of digital communication during VOM were mentioned only in comparison to face-to-face meetings and involved a limited exchange of non-verbal and contextual information about the other party, and less control over the digital dialogue for the mediator. Practical disadvantages centered around privacy and technical stability concerns. The findings suggest that digital forms of communication such as videoconferencing and -messages during VOM have the potential to fill the void between current offline direct (face-to-face) and indirect forms (letter exchange and shuttle mediation) – if such digital means are well-prepared and the privacy of parties is safeguarded.

This chronicle discusses the importance of Bruno Latour’s work for criminology, paying attention to the role of technology and our relationship to nature. The author proposes to criminalize ecocide and advocates the use of restorative justice in dealing with environmental crimes.

In recent years scientific interest in various aspects of prison climate has increased exponentially. At first, such research was being initiated and undertaken predominantly within Anglo-Saxon penology but, more recently, research into prison climate is also increasingly taking place elsewhere, including in the Netherlands and Belgium. In this article the authors offer an overview of Dutch and Belgian research on prison climate. They discuss the literature from two broad angles: first, the characteristics of prisons and incarcerated individuals that determine the quality of prison climate; and, second, research on the impact of prison climate on inmates themselves.

Dutch prisons are not exempt from incidents. Despite the negative impact of violence on the safety of inmates and the chances of successful reintegration, not much is known about the prevalence of victimization in Dutch prisons and the characteristics of victims. Additionally, previous research has pointed out the overlap between victim status and offender status. In this contribution, the authors will discuss the prevalence of self-reported victimization among Dutch inmates and the characteristics of victims and victim-offenders. Data from 3,485 participants from the Life in Custody Study are used for this purpose.

Dutch mayors play an increasingly prominent role in tackling (organized) crime. However, empirical research into how mayors fulfil this role remains scarce. Based on 23 interviews with nineteen mayors and sixteen municipal officials, this study reveals the different ways in which mayors have given meaning to the administrative approach of outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) in the period 2012-2017. While the national approach to OMCGs fits within the wider focus in society on prevention and the exclusion of ‘risky groups’, this empirical study shows how mayors give their own effect to this focus at the local level.

The promises of big data have reached the domain of safety and security. After these techniques proved their added value in the private sector, they soon reached the attention of the public sector. In this article we present the results of our interviews with 27 executive professionals of the Dutch police and the department of public order and safety of local governments. What are their expectations of big data? Their experience with big data varied. Our respondents gave expression to a basic positive attitude towards intelligence led policing and the chances that big data brings to it. But anticipation of working with big data was not free from discussion and the respondents stressed the need for securing privacy and other constitutional rights of citizens before big data applications are implemented in the police function. With that, our respondents strongly aligned with the international, academic call for a constitutional reflection about the application of big data withing the police function.

The availability and use of big data sources is increasing exponentially. The variety of new and emerging data sources offers opportunities to complement, replace, improve or add to conventional data sources. Survey data are one kind of conventional data sources. In survey research, a framework to assess the accuracy of survey data already existed for quite some time. This framework is known as the Total Survey Error (TSE) framework. The philosophy behind this framework has only recently been universalized to (big) data in general in the form of the Total Error (TE) framework. This generic framework, which allows for assessing the accuracy of (big) data, is outlined in this article. Additionally, the TE framework is applied to big data sources that could be relevant for policing: police-registered crime data, Twitter data and mobile phone data.

This special issue reflects about big data applications in policing. Terpstra and Salet (2020) refer to this development as ‘one of the greatest changes within the police about the past decade’ (p. 25). Beside attention to this topic in Dutch literature (e.g. Janssen et al., 2020; Spithoven & Beerends, 2019), the relevance of the subject is also internationally recognized (e.g. Brayne, 2021; Ferguson, 2017; Ridgeway, 2018). In this special issue, we examine – with a view to the past, present and future – how big data could be used in policing in the Netherlands and Belgium. This special issue is not about empirical big data applications, for that we would like to refer to specific studies (e.g., Rummens et al., 2021); in this issue we especially want to outline the breadth of this research area.