NCJ Number
157799
Journal
Justitiele verkenningen Volume: 21 Issue: 3 Dated: (April 1995) Pages: complete issue
Editor(s)
B A M van Stokkom
Date Published
1995
Length
145 pages
Annotation
This edition surveys various developments in criminality and the social response to crime in the Netherlands from 1985 to 1995.
Abstract
An article on crime and victim care describes the effects of the Dutch Society and Crime plan (1985), which introduced victim care as an official part of policy making. The article argues that the victim's position still lags behind victim policy goals and describes recent efforts to improve the situation. The following article focuses on progress in situational crime prevention, which in 1985 became a special concern of Dutch criminal policy. Despite some disadvantages, this prevention approach has proven superior to law enforcement approaches and is necessary to relieve the overburdened criminal justice system. Another article argues that crime must be seen in its social context and that truly effective prevention is linked to a policy of social justice. The final article criticizes the growth of private security and surveillance agencies, which has fragmentized the police function. The objectives of private agencies as well as democratic controls on them may be much different from those of state law enforcement agencies.