NCJ Number
220168
Date Published
2007
Length
48 pages
Annotation
This chapter reviews important stages of Dutch criminology.
Abstract
The first section describes the origins of Dutch criminology, first under the influence of France, then Germany, and then the United States (since World War II). The second section focuses on one of Dutch criminology's major figures, Willem Adriaan Bonger. Bonger was a committed empiricist; however, his successors promoted a psychiatric and holistic ideology not based on empirical research. This approach wanted to "understand the criminal" and his/her behavior, but its adherents were not convinced that empirical research would provide knowledge about offending causes or the reduction of criminal behavior. Its contribution to criminology was its emphasis on treating offenders and a humane approach to offenders in general and mentally ill offenders in particular. The fourth section of the chapter describes how critical criminology gained support in the Netherlands in the 1960s, followed by a section on the flourish in empirical research in the 1970s and 1980s, marked by the creation of a governmental research center, the Research and Documentation Centre. The sixth section examines the increasing importance of this institute in the Dutch criminological enterprise. Remaining sections consider the problems associated with empirical research, recent research trends in the Netherlands, and the state of Dutch criminology in the early 21st century. Generally, Dutch criminologists do not view criminological research in a wider European perspective that produces new insights. Rather they continue to follow the interests of American criminology. What is needed is research on important issues in crime control, criminal justice, and security in a European context. 49 references