Kristof Verfaillie

• Assistant-professor of Criminology at Vrije Universiteit Brussel

In this paper, we argue that Sykes and Matza’s neutralisation theory can make a significant contribution to terrorism studies. Neutralisation techniques are justifications for violence that offenders develop before committing acts of terrorism. While such techniques have been challenging to study, we show that terrorist manifestos, such as Brenton...

As an issue for public debate, police stops are not new. In the United States, the Kerner Commission in 1968 identified controls as one of the triggers of the urban riots of the 1960s. In England, the riots in Brixton, South London, in 1981 followed the massive use of the ‘sus laws’ to search young Black men during Operation Swamp. In both countrie...

In deze bijdrage bespreken we de inentingstheorie. Kunnen we jongeren door "inenting" weerbaar maken tegen rekrutering door terreurnetwerken? Kunnen we mensen minder vatbaar maken voor samenzweringstheorieën of verhalen die oproepen tot geweld? We bespreken het ontstaan van de inentingstheorie en leggen uit hoe psychologische inenting precies moet...

In this paper, we explore how Belgian local police forces have adapted to terrorism. Based on ethnographic work in two Belgian local police forces, we focus on a specific adaptation, a strategy we might describe as “defining deviance down” (cf. Garland, 2001). This strategy implies that terrorism is redefined so that it can be addressed without res...

Medewerkers van het Coördinatieorgaan voor de dreigingsanalyse (OCAD) maken op dagelijkse basis inschattingen over de waarschijnlijkheid dat personen opgenomen in de Gemeenschappelijke Gegevensbank (bv. potentieel gewelddadige extremisten) in de toekomst zullen overgaan tot het plegen van extremistisch geïnspireerd geweld. Ze gebruiken daarvoor de...

In this paper, I review David Garland's Culture of Control, 20 years after it was first published. I suggest that the transformations Garland describes, the major changes that occurred in crime control in the United States and the United Kingdom between 1970 and 2000, will undoubtedly become less relevant to our understanding of contemporary crime...

In the mid-1990s, criminologists began targeting the emergence of populism, which, according to Roberts et al. (2003), refers to discourses in which the electoral advantage of a policy takes precedence over its effectiveness. In this paper, I argue that while populist rhetoric is important and criminological expertise is indeed often ignored, polit...

In this chapter, I examine the populist assertion that “the public wants more and harsher punishment”. We will see that such generalizing references to the desires, expectations and opinions of citizens imply a significant reduction of the complexity of issues such as crime, uncivil behaviour and feelings of insecurity. A general plea for more, and...

In deze bijdrage onderzoeken we hoe de veiligheidsbeleving van mensen begrijpbaar kan worden gemaakt vanuit een kwalitatief onderzoeksperspectief. We argumenteren dat een veiligheidsbeleving niet zo maar bepaald wordt door omgevingsfactoren, determinanten, of individuele en psychologische kenmerken. Een veiligheidsbeleving moet daarentegen bestudee...

Over the past decade, European assessments of organised crime have evolved into strategic future-oriented intelligence systems. Policy-makers want to be informed about coming organised crime threats and challenges. We use the concepts of reflexive government and reflexive security to explore this shift in EU policing, and suggest that strategic pla...

Purpose - Contemporary policing and the control of (organised) crime involve priority setting, strategic planning and the use of strategic planning tools. The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to the fast-growing body of literature on intelligence-led policing, and explore new concepts and methods to aid the strategic decision making...

Contemporary policing and the control of organized crime increasingly involve priority setting and planning. Criminal policymakers no longer focus on repressive aspects of organized crime, but want to be informed about coming challenges and threats in order to take appropriate preventive action. For that reason, there is a growing demand to change...

Deze bijdrage vertrekt van de stelling dat het overlastdiscours een mythe is, een wijze van betekenen (Barthes, 2002). Bepaalde maatschappelijke praktijken worden vandaag met het begrip overlast geduid, maar die benoeming is vanzelfsprekend noch neutraal. Ze vertegenwoordigt daarentegen een bepaalde kijk op maatschappelijke praktijken en problemen...