This introductory article describes who ‘the other’ is and what the place of ‘the other’ is in social scientific studies. The concept of ‘the other’ became the central object of study with the emergence of anthropology. In sociology and criminology the focus of study has been on ‘the other’ in ‘our’ midst. Although there are ‘positive others’, such as significant others, the other is more often perceived as unwanted, dangerous, threatening and even as an enemy. The other is socially constructed, usually on the basis of cultural and socio-economic differ­ences that set ‘the other’ apart from the powerful. Critical and cultural criminologists have therefore since the 1960s focused on ‘the other’ and how they are created in processes of marginalization and how they are subjected to criminalization.

This article is based on ethnographic research over recent years in eight Dutch police teams. It focuses on the othering process in which police officers define ‘crooks’ as the Other and chase, catch and arrest them. Catching crooks is perceived as an assignment as well as a game. Street cops construct detailed subcategories of the crook which influence their daily practices. They select crooks by recognition (the permanent suspects), by abnormalization (out of placeness) and by profiling (regardless of place). In addition to the discussion on ethnic profiling, we argue that profiling is a contextual practice. The contents of the profiles depend on the demographic characteristics of the district in which a police team operates. Interacting mediaframes of both the crook and the police reinforce the mutual caricatures and tense relationships.

On September 21th 2012, a sweet sixteen party in Haren (a Dutch village), announced on Facebook as PROJECT X Haren, turned into a riot in which youngsters clashed with the police. The blame was put on the film Project X (2012) that would have inspired adolescents to become aggressive and violent. However, like other adolescent comedies, this movie offers an insight in the adolescent state of mind, the role of humor and their lack of risk assessments. Much violence is (harmless) slapstick-like, boundaries are exceeded (sex, alcohol, drugs) and transgression is often directed against parents, teachers and the police. What is tested in the adolescent imagination is the public order. Film functions as a symbolic rite of passage, with carnivalesque inversions. Reacting in Haren on this adolescent state of mind with an administrative prohibition (‘there is no party’) confirmed the juvenile joke. Acting as if it is not a party but a huge disaster (by enlarging police forces) contributed to make the riot a reality that the youngsters themselves never imagined. The commission of inquiry recommends taking serious film and other forms of public imagination, because they contribute to our understanding of reality, especially concerning the perceptions of societal actors.

This article explores the relation between death, the fear and denial of it, and the appeal of mortuary rites attempting to transcend senses of mortality. It aims to show how our Own death, as a shamefull and solitary characteristic of modernity, has become a taboo and how it simultaneously continues to spur our imagination of the way Others die. Building on research in Suriname, it argues that both colonial compulsion and anthropological gazing have contributed to distorted and ambiguious attitudes toward death cross-culturally. As such, the article seeks to advance discussions on death and taboo as a perpetuum mobile of dread and everlasting enchantment.

Cultural criminology has shown an interest in the visual representation of perpetrators, victims and scenes of crime and punishment in the media. Relatively little attention has been paid to the visual representation of these subjects in the fine arts, however. This lacuna has been the inspiration for this special issue about the art of representation and the relationship between fine arts and criminology. Questions that are addressed include: What is the importance and meaning of representational art for the criminologist? It is conceivable that a criminological researcher would reformulate his or her research problem due to insights that have been articulated by artists? And, by the same token, is it possible that an artist would revise his or her representation because of scientific research? Or, are the doings of both independent of one another? Ultimately, this special issue is concerned with how representations of perpetrators, victims and scenes of crime and punishment come into being, which meaning these images have in different social and cultural contexts and what we, as criminologists, can contribute to them.

Various disciplines have a longstanding tradition of studying musical genres and the various functions of music, but few criminologists focus on music in their scientific work. This article discusses various relationships between music, crime and culture. We discuss the hypothesis of ‘criminogenic’ music genres, and countless examples of criminalisation of music. We point at the stilistic importance of music genres for subcultures and social movements, and we raise ethical aspects: music can also be used as an instrument of (symbolic) violence, as a punishment or even as torture. Finally, we discuss other functional uses of music: as a vehicle for human emotions, for therapeutic purposes, to influence the behavior of employees and consumers, to enhance feelings of public safety, and to prevent crime and nuisance.

In this article on the social production of the book Outsiders, I will situate its production in the daily practice of the social worlds in which Becker was involved. Therefore I focus on the relations, interactions and situations which were relevant for the form, content and success of Outsiders. For data, I use fragments from my email communication with Howard Becker, the collected interviews and other publications which show that Becker seeks to demystify Outsiders. My main contribution is that I use Becker’s own words to demystify the ethnographic practice of Outsiders and describe its mundane backstage reality, which is described by Fine as ‘the underside’ of ethnography (1993).

This article deals with the performance of ‘street credibility’. A dramaturgical analysis of the lyrics and videos of 15 rap artist from The Hague sheds light on the various ways they try to achieve a credible street reputation as rappers. In their frontstage presentation they highlight their street knowledge, strike violent poses, and claim affiliation to certain infamous local gangs or neighborhoods. Backstage, however, these performances are being deconstructed by other actors who participate in the local street culture and who form a critical, metaphysical audience of the presentations of the rappers.

Based on qualitative research within Chinese restaurants in the Netherlands, the authors describe and discuss (informal) labour relations among Chinese restaurant owners and their illegal Chinese workers. It is argued that a too one-sided emphasis on interpreting these labour relations in terms of ‘labour exploitation’ reduces employers to offenders and employees to victims. Such a judicial perspective hinders a clear view on the causes of underlying themes as illegal labour and illegal stay. The authors discuss how restaurant owners and employees operate in a ‘moral economy’ in which a demand for cheap products and flexible, motivated, cheap, and capable labour interacts with culturally shared expectations on justice and reciprocity and influences labour relations.

This article analyses a criminal family. It is not the individual, but the family as a social entity that is central to this approach. The Van D.’s are a family of eleven brothers with a collective history of crime. Raised with anti-authoritarian norms, violence, alcohol and a strong sense of loyalty, they were known as an ‘army of brothers’ dominating the streets of H-town. The criminal family as object of study proves valuable in understanding the influence of contextual factors, subculture, and stigmatization. In the case of the Van D.’s, blood ties create cohesion and conflict at the same time.

André Köbben’s academic career spans sixty years and he’s still going strong – just because he likes it so much. Doing research by himself, which took him for longer periods to Ivory Coast and Surinam apart from studying conflicts in the Netherlands, but also analysing research by others. He has always been interested in questions of ‘rule’ and ‘reality’: the discrepancy between what people say they do and what they actually are doing. He probed tribal disputes among the Agni, the Bete and the Djoeka, but also conflicting interests between managers ordering research and researchers producing unwelcome results. He is preparing a book on academic fraud.

Cultural criminology has been criticized for not taking enough notice of classical anthropological debates on the concept of ‘culture’. This article responds to that. It analyses anthropological conceptualization from an initial essentialist to a social constructivist approach of ‘culture’. The constructivist approach can prevent cultural criminologists from focusing too much on ‘exotic subcultures’ and neglecting broader socio-cultural developments. The article treats the structure-agency debate and its relevance to cultural criminology. In conclusion, cultural criminology from a dynamic constructivist concept of culture is best equipped for studying crime and reactions to crime in the current era of globalization.

In this contribution the current security debate in France is dissected as if it were a play in different acts. President Sarkozy, the political producer, has launched a public ‘schizophrenic’ discussion in which criminologists/sociologists act and quarrel on the edge of a knife. This debate can only be understood in reference to French criminological history, politics, structures and scientific particularities. The contents of this criminological theatre of war can enrich criminological discussion in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The fight against organized cannabis cultivation is an important topic within Dutch law enforcement. No longer the sole responsibility of the police, the current trend is for the police to work alongside local government, companies providing energy, housing associations and the Inland Revenue. Together they unite their strengths to deal more effectively and resolutely with the problem. Although different studies have been conducted concerning the (effectiveness of) the fight against cannabis cultivation, there is not much known regarding the way actors experience the fight from ‘within’, that is: the interactions, perceptions and transformations of agreements and premises which are enacted on the ‘molecular level’ of the cooperation. In two large Dutch cities, we have researched, on the basis of semi-structured interviews and observation, how parties implement their role within the integral fight against cannabis cultivation. The results reveal that the execution is more complex and uncontrollable than previously considered. The cooperation turns out not to be deductive, structured and ‘organized’; but rather flexible, dynamic and ‘self organizing’ in character.

There is a large – and still growing – body of criminological literature on the relationship between crime and work. However, the exact nature of that relationship often remains diffuse. In this article we explored the relationships between organized crime and work. Based on analysis of the forty most recent cases of the Organized Crime Monitor we distinguished between two types of relations connecting organized crime and work. First, crimes can be based in the occupation of the offender when the occupation provides concrete opportunities to offend or facilitates the crimes of others. Secondly, the occupation of the offender can also be used as a shield concealing the illegal behavior or identity of the offender.

Employment and crime are commonly assumed to be negatively correlated. Those employed are less likely to commit crimes, and conversely, those who have a criminal record are less likely to become employed. Criminological research has provided strong empirical and theoretical support for the link between employment and crime, but also suggests that a complex set of mechanisms may be at play. Additionally, studies show that employment can also increase the risk of criminal behaviour. In the introduction of this special issue, three causal relationships in the work-crime nexus will be discussed: employment causing crime, employment preventing crime, and crime blocking future employment.

This research aimed to describe the remigration of Bulgarian women who had been exploited in prostitution in the Netherlands. The difficulties they encountered during their attempt to reintegrate in their environment of origin was one of the main points of interest. Files of Bulgarian women registered as victims have been analyzed in both the Netherlands and in Bulgaria. Interviews were held with current Bulgarian sex workers, former victims of trafficking and several professionals involved in the wellbeing of these women. In many cases remigration turned out to be a temporary situation as many women returned to the Netherlands later on. Partly for that reason it appeared difficult to keep track of their situation after they (initially) came back to Bulgaria. Many women encounter the very problems that contributed to the situation of trafficking in the first place. This makes it difficult to change their marginal position: prostitution remains a well paid option if the circumstances that have led to their exploitation in prostitution remain the same. This does not necessarily lead to repeated victimization, but at least to only a limited difference that reintegration programs can make.