Preventive interventions against terrorist attacks can be justified on legal and moral grounds. The Dutch broad-based approach against terrorism also addresses radicalizations processes. It is, however, hard to justify why a government in a liberal democracy should be allowed to intervene in processes of radicalization where danger to society is not obvious. A reason to justify intervention is when a (former) radical asks for help. Theories based on the ideas of Kant and Rawls also allow for intervention if an individual’s autonomy is diminished because he is member of a sect or under the spell of a charismatic leader. Other interventions with regard to (prevention of) radicalization cannot be justified by deontological theories such as Kant’s and Rawls’. Virtue ethics or teleology would, however, allow interventions but only if they are geared towards helping the individual in their quest to the good life. This justification allows for interventions that are, for example, focused on supporting individuals to critically reflect, reason and discuss about the good life and a just society. Based on the teleological justification constraints can be derived for preventive interventions with regard to radicalization or even deradicalisation. Notice that individuals cannot be forced to join these programs because there is no legal basis.

Conferencing is a restorative justice practice which has started developing quite consistently since the 1990s, in majority in Anglophone countries such as New Zealand, Australia, the USA, Canada or the UK and in particular with consistently promising results for juvenile justice in Northern Ireland. Some continental European, Latin American and African countries are also starting to introduce this alternative to traditional criminal justice, especially in the case of juvenile justice, with some equally promising results. This article presents up-to-date information about the state of conferencing in the world and discusses some of the major conclusions that have come out of a European research project and book.

At the end of 2000, a pilot project began in Flanders (Belgium) to offer family group conferencing for juvenile offenders. Since June 2006, this restorative practice – together with victim-offender mediation – has been inserted in the new Youth Justice Act, making conferencing available in all judicial districts in Flanders. Five years later, however, the mediation-services had to conclude that the number of referrals for conferencing remains rather limited. This observation inspired the mediation services to take actions to bring conferencing more to the attention. This article reports on the findings of a study that was part of this process. Based on (1) an analysis of all conferencing-files that were referred between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 31, (2) focus groups with youth court social workers and criminologists working at the level of the public prosecutor and (3) surveys conducted with youth judges, the study aimed to identify and discuss barriers and obstacles within the current referral practice of conferencing in Flanders.

At the end of 2000, a pilot project began in Flanders (Belgium) to offer family group conferencing for juvenile offenders. Since June 2006, this restorative practice – together with victim-offender mediation – has been inserted in the new Youth Justice Act, making conferencing available in all judicial districts in Flanders. Five years later, however, the mediation-services had to conclude that the number of referrals for conferencing remains rather limited. This observation inspired the mediation services to take actions to bring conferencing more to the attention. This article reports on the findings of a study that was part of this process. Based on (1) an analysis of all conferencing-files that were referred between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 31, (2) focus groups with youth court social workers and criminologists working at the level of the public prosecutor and (3) surveys conducted with youth judges, the study aimed to identify and discuss barriers and obstacles within the current referral practice of conferencing in Flanders.

This article sketches an experiment initiated by a local mediation service in Flanders (BAL) with regard to the role of a supporting volunteer in the context of family group conferencing. Engaged as researchers in this experiment, the authors reconstruct the conceptual challenges of this project and the solution proposed by the team of mediators. One of these challenges revolves around finding an appropriative account of restorative justice that fits with the aims of the Belgian conferencing practice and clarifies the role of the supporting volunteer. Another comes down to distinguishing this role with the essential tasks of the moderator, and formulating deontological devices. In the last part of this contribution a few learning points are formulated with regard to the process and results of the experiment. One of these points is the need to rethink how successfully offering the possibility of engaging a supporting volunteer to the stake holding parties.

The number of Internet users who reported they have come into contact with cybercrime is substantial. This article examines three forms of cybercrime, namely: hacking, cyber stalking and cyber threats. Because cybercrime is relatively extensive in the life of Dutch citizens, it is important to gain insight into factors that influence victimization. By means of a secondary analysis of data from the first Dutch national cybercrime victim survey (N=9,161), it is assessed to which extend online behaviours affect victimization. In particular, online behaviours involving the use of communication applications affect victimization of the three aforementioned cybercrimes. The article provides suggestions for further research into cybercrime victimization.

Scientific research on cybercrime has mainly focused on its technological aspects. There is a lack of knowledge regarding the human factor in cybercrime. In this article we focus on the human factor and address the question to what extent crackers (criminal hackers) are similar to other criminals. We analyse socio-demographic characteristics as well as criminal careers of crackers in comparison to those of other criminals. We employ Dutch police data on criminal suspects from 1996-2009. Our results show that hacking suspects are quite similar to other criminals with respect to both socio-demographic characteristics and their criminal careers.

Identity fraud is a rapidly growing problem, as shown by recent volume estimates from victim surveys. Little is known however about the amount of financial damage among victims of this crime, especially in the Dutch context. This article studies victims of unauthorized cash withdrawal from their bank account, which is one of the most common forms of identity fraud. For this, we use data on 180 victims from the representative LISS panel. The results show that the financial implications of this type of crime experience vary widely between victims. While many victims are disadvantaged for only a small amount of money (for almost 40 per cent is about less than 50 euros ), a quarter of this group suffers from substantial money loss of more than 500 euros. Nevertheless, the vast majority (85 per cent) are completely reimbursed by their banks. Eventually, only in rare cases victims suffer significant permanent money loss. Remarkably, the low educated are significantly less often reimbursed by their banks.

It is assumed that the online world creates new possibilities for criminal behaviour. Only recently criminologists started the debate on the applicability of traditional criminological theories to cybercrime offending. Data retrieved from the national Dutch survey Youth & Cybersafety indicate that cyberbullying behaviour is not only strongly interwoven with traditional bullying behaviours, but is also affected by the distinct features of the online environment. The findings give support to the suggestion that the aetiological schema to explain cyberbullying should postulate the interaction between individual characteristics, distinct features of the online environment and the interaction between offline and online social realities.

This special issue introduces the topic of cybercrime to Dutch criminology. First, it raises the major substantive issues that computer technology involves for criminology, in terms of crime volume, people involved in crime, and the ways that crimes are committed. Also, it deals with research literature on cybercrime on various topics, such as survey methodology, crime prevention and Internet applications open to justice professionals in the fight against crime. Overall, the article concludes that much research remains to be done in this relatively new field.

In 5 Grams: Crack Cocaine, Rap Music, and the War on Drugs Dimitri Bogazianos, an assistant professor at the departement Criminal Justice of California State University, discusses the cultural links between the American ‘war on drugs’ and the creative contributions of those directly affected by its destructive effects. At the centre of his analysis is the parallel between what the author calls ‘the crack game’ and ‘the rap game’. On the one hand Bogazianos examines the profound symbolic consequences of America’s reliance on the paradoxical punishment structure of crack; on the other hand the author focuses on the multiple ways crack appeared as a symbolical reference in the lyrics of rap artists.