On 1 April 2014, the Dutch Act on Adolescent Criminal Law entered into force. With this law, the age limit in article 77c of the Criminal Code, which allows for the application of juvenile criminal law to young adults, was stretched from 21 to 23 years. In this article stock is taken of the developments that have taken place in the four years after the introduction of this law. In practice, article 77c Criminal Code is increasingly being applied in case of young adult suspects, however still to a little extent. Among others, this has to do with confusion about the target group that qualifies for the adolescent criminal law. The access to and justification for the application of the law show a very diverse picture.

This is the third chronicle on the relationship between police and science. This contribution focusses on the Strategic Research Agenda for the Police 2015-2019. For researchers who would like to do research for or with regard to the police, it is important to understand the functions of this agenda and it’s thematic priorities. Every four years the Research Agenda will be recalibrated under the authority of the minister of Justice and Security. A first evaluation is being prepared. The Research Agenda 2015-2019 underlines the importance of the transfer of research outcomes into police practice and police education.

Fifty years ago, Gary Becker’s seminal article on the economics of crime and punishment was published. This paper reviews the theoretical developments in the field since then and takes stock of the strenghts and weaknesses of the economic approach.