Barbra Van Gestel

This chapter describes recent developments in the nature of the phenomenon of contract killings by organised crime groups in the Netherlands. The crude and sloppy methods displayed by today’s hitmen can be explained in part by their inexperience, combined with the wide availability of heavy automatic firearms. However, the hitmen’s sloppy work can...

This report contains an overview of the amount of contract killings in the Netherlands. The number of contract killings in the Netherlands has fluctuated sinde 2000 with an average between 20 and 30 per year, but this has declined in recent years: to 18 contact killings in 2019 and only 10 in 2020 and 8 in 2021. The fall since 2020 marks a record l...

Contract killings in the Netherlands

Contract Killings by Organised Crime groups This article describes the recent developments in the nature of the phenomenon of contract killings by organized crime groups in the Netherlands. The crude and sloppy methods by hitman of today can be explained in part by the inexperience of hitmen combined with the wide avaibility of heavy automatic fi...

Sinds 2012 zijn circa 300 personen uit Nederland naar oorlogsgebied in Syrië vertrokken om zich aan te sluiten bij terroristische organisaties zoals Islamitische Staat (IS). Naar al deze uitreizigers wordt een strafrechtelijk onderzoek gestart. Dit artikel geeft een overzicht van de straffen die tot nu toe door Nederlandse rechters zijn opgelegd aa...

A synthesis of current facts and figures on the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco and their consequences is reported annually in the National Drug Monitor. Highlights 2017: • The use of the stimulants ecstasy, cocaine and amphetamines increased between 2014-2016, whereas the prevalence of smoking decreased. • The number of registered drug overdos...

This article focuses on mobile organized criminal groups that travel through Europe and commit a broad range of property crimes. The study aims to explore the perspective of individual group members. Information was gathered from fifteen criminal investigations that were carried out in the Netherlands in recent years (2013-2016). The study shows th...

Introduction to a (Dutch) special issue on contract killings.

Contract killings by organized crime groups in the Netherlands. While contract killings by organized crime groups are by no means new to the Netherlands (with around twenty to thirty cases a year over the last few decades), there is reason to believe that the nature of the killings has changed. The key question of this article is which recent devel...

This special issue focuses on contract killings in the Netherlands.

This study examines informal services within the sex industry in the Red Light District of Amsterdam, the Netherlands and how these affect the autonomy of sex workers. Data were obtained from the police files of twelve criminal investigations into human trafficking in Amsterdam between 2006 and 2010. The empirical data show that sex workers are int...

In this article we show what relationships may exist between sex workers and their partners. These relationships are diverse and sometimes complex by the presence of both intimacy and intimidation or violence. From the women's perspective these relationships are not primarily defined as 'violent' and 'involuntary', they also provide them love, prot...

This article centres on the hypothesis that human trafficking for sexual exploitation is not only an organised crime activity, but a crime of relational nature as well. Therefore this study explores the relationships that exist between suspects and victims of sex trafficking, and examines to what extent the nature of sex trafficking has parallels w...

Voor de opsporing van terroristische misdrijven kunnen sinds 2007 bij ‘aanwijzingen’ al bijzondere opsporingsmiddelen worden ingezet. De achterliggende veronderstelling daarbij is dat de ‘oude’ wetgeving onvoldoende mogelijkheden biedt om in een vroeg stadium al politieonderzoek te doen naar signalen die kunnen duiden op terroristische activiteiten...

Arbeidsmigratie uit nieuwe EU-landen in Midden-en Oost-Europa is vanaf 2003 sterk gestegen, zo kwam naar voren in verschillende bijdragen elders in dit nummer. Naast positieve aspecten voor de economie heeft deze recente arbeidsmigratie ook minder rooskleurige kanten. Vanuit gemeenten zijn geluiden te horen over uitbuiting, huisvestingsproblemen, d...

The subject of human trafficking has recently received a lot of attention from society and the world of politics. The criminal-law approach to human trafficking has also been placed high on the agenda of law enforcers. Human trafficking is, however, a complex crime with several specific characteristics. For example, there is often a complex relatio...

Bij de recente aanpak van georganiseerde misdaad in Nederland wordt het belang benadrukt van interventies die gericht zijn op de onderliggende 'gelegenheidsstructuur' van misdaad. Veel aan‑ dacht gaat naar beroepen, bedrijven en instanties die criminaliteit – bewust of onbewust – op een structurele wijze faciliteren. 1 Behalve een repressieve aanpa...

Mediaberichten zouden in sterke mate het optreden van criminaliteitsbestrijders beïnvloeden, dat is althans wat politici en opinieleiders vaak beweren. Maar is dat eigenlijk wel zo? In dit boek wordt aan de hand van twee gevalsstudies bestudeerd hoe lokale media en lokaal overheidsbeleid zich in de praktijk tot elkaar verhouden. De eerste studie ri...

Proefschrift Universiteit Leiden. Met lit. opg. - Met samenvatting in het Engels.