Over the past ten to fifteen years the police in many Western European countries have undergone a series of profound organisational changes. The police now appear to operate at a greater distance from citizens, they are more impersonal and decontextualized and have become more dependent on digitalised data systems.

These changes are captured through the concept of the ‘abstract police’ and in this international collection of essays, leading policing scholars use this concept to make sens...

Cybercrime has become part of everyday life. We live in hybrid societies, fluctuating between the material and the virtual world, and we are hence confronted with online, offline and hybrid offences. However, the few victimisation surveys conducted in Europe reveal that victims of online crimes seldom report them to the police. Consequently, cybercrimes – which according to the best estimates represent between one third and more than half of all attempted and completed crimes in Europe – ...

This Book of Basics shows how High Impact Crime (HIC) in The Netherlands can be tackled at a local level by the police, the municipality and the Public Prosecution Service in collaboration with citizens and businesses/organisations. The target audience for the Book of Basics is the essential coalition of the local triangle - the mayor, police management and Public Prosecutor, as well as their policy makers and executors, businesses, citizens and organisations from civil society. The Book of B...

Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) have been increasingly viewed as a threat to society. Members have been associated with disturbances of public order as well as various forms of organized crime. In response, the authorities in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium have each implemented their own zero-tolerance strategies to prevent and repress outlaw biker crime and deviance. In the cross-border Meuse Rhine Euregion, where the three countries intersect, the national borders may provide opportu...

Tax authorities face the challenge of influencing tax compliance by behaving in such a way that taxpayers perceive to be treated fairly and thus comply voluntarily with tax rules. In order to meet this challenge it is crucial that institutions such as tax authorities frequently interact with taxpayers and selectively apply instruments so that a sustainable basis of trust in taxation is created. At the same time, tax authorities need to have the capacity to adjust to a rapidly changing technol...

National system striving for protecting prisoners' labor and social security rights has been conducted in legislative area in many countries all over the world. And nowadays, national law concerning the protection of prisoners' rights is trying to become more substantial and in tune with international standards. Then while launching penal reforms on prisoners' labor and social security rights in the present and the future, the national legislator might want to be provided with insights and re...

Across Europe, restorative justice has gained acceptance as a way of resolving disputes and mitigating the harm of crime in the community. Practitioners have also begun to coordinate restorative meetings in prisons in an e¬ffort to reduce the harms of victimisation and to encourage desistance from crime. This book provides a comprehensive evaluation of Building Bridges, a programme of restorative meetings between victims and prisoners in seven European countries. The authors first describe h...

This book addresses the relationship between restorative justice and children’s rights, an issue of increasing relevance to restorative justice theory and practice that has thus far received relatively little attention. Readers will find useful reviews of international human rights documents and of legislation, policy and practices in countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, North America, and Oceania. Each of the chapters demonstrates the compatibility between children’s rights ...

In contemporary, late-modern society, security landscapes are being re-sketched. Various traditional and new security providers are part of this evolving scene. The military and the police, who are thought of as 'the old boys in town', are meeting once again. As central components in the power structure of any state, they are heavily involved in this new security design, generating both latent and obvious blurring of boundaries.

The aim of this book is to further explore the blurring boundarie...

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, governments introduced stress tests to measure and monitor banks’ health. Breaking the Bank? assesses whether the EU‑wide banking stress test is a good regulatory tool. It deals with some of the key questions that still linger about the exercise: do the benefits of the stress test outweigh the enormous cost? Is it tough enough on banks? And, does it tell us which banks are healthy or not?

Beyond the scope of the stress test, the book addresse...