Hans Nelen – författare

Dina Siegel and Hans Nelen The term ‘global organized crime’ has been in use in criminology since the mid 1990s. Even more general and abstract than its daughter-terms (transnational or cross-border organized crime), ‘global organized crime’ seems to embrace the activities of criminal groups and networks all around the planet, leaving no geographical space untouched. The term appears to cover the geographical as well as the historical domain: ‘global’ has taken on the meaning of ‘forever and ever’. Global organized crime is also associatively linked with ‘globalisation’. The social construction of both terms in scientific discourse is in itself an interesting theme. But perhaps even more interesting, especially for academics trying to conduct empirical research in this area, is the analysis of the symbolic and practical meaning of these concepts. How should criminologists study globalisation in general and global organized crime in particular? Which instruments and ‘theoretical luggage’ do they have in order to conduct this kind of research? The aim of this book is not to formulate simple, straightforward answers to these questions, but rather to give an overview of contemporary criminological research combining international, national and local dimensions of specific organized crime pr- lems. The term global organized crime will hardly be used in this respect. In other social sciences, such as anthropology, there is a tendency to get rid of vague and abstract terms which can only serve to confuse our understanding. In our opinion, criminology should follow this initiative.

Dina Siegel and Hans Nelen The term ‘global organized crime’ has been in use in criminology since the mid 1990s. Even more general and abstract than its daughter-terms (transnational or cross-border organized crime), ‘global organized crime’ seems to embrace the activities of criminal groups and networks all around the planet, leaving no geographical space untouched. The term appears to cover the geographical as well as the historical domain: ‘global’ has taken on the meaning of ‘forever and ever’. Global organized crime is also associatively linked with ‘globalisation’. The social construction of both terms in scientific discourse is in itself an interesting theme. But perhaps even more interesting, especially for academics trying to conduct empirical research in this area, is the analysis of the symbolic and practical meaning of these concepts. How should criminologists study globalisation in general and global organized crime in particular? Which instruments and ‘theoretical luggage’ do they have in order to conduct this kind of research? The aim of this book is not to formulate simple, straightforward answers to these questions, but rather to give an overview of contemporary criminological research combining international, national and local dimensions of specific organized crime pr- lems. The term global organized crime will hardly be used in this respect. In other social sciences, such as anthropology, there is a tendency to get rid of vague and abstract terms which can only serve to confuse our understanding. In our opinion, criminology should follow this initiative.

Examines the policies of the Dutch toward illicit drug use and the effect these policies have had on heroin addicts and drug-related crime.In many countries, the debate on drug issues has turned into polarization between legalization and prohibition. This book provides a third strategy, a "compromise" between the two extreme positions.The Netherlands, particularly its capital Amsterdam, is known for its relatively tolerant attitude to the illegal drug phenomenon. In contrast to the American ideology of radical prohibitionism that has resulted in a "war on drugs," the Dutch have adopted their own 'pragmatic' approach, which involves decriminalization of the use of drugs and some (limited) tolerance for the hard drugs scene to become open and visible within society.The central theme of this book is to determine whether the life style and the economic behavior of heroin addicts have been influenced by the Dutch social and cultural climate. Emphasis has been put on drug related crime and the influence of methadone maintenance programs on the nature and extent of criminal activities. The results are remarkable.

The safeguarding of human rights remains highly problematic, despite the proliferation of human rights instruments and the many actions taken by a variety of actors, such as governmental and non-governmental organisations, (individual) states and the international community over the past decades. Human rights violations do still occur on a large scale and injustice remains rampant. Central to this problem appears to be that social, economic, cultural and political structures in societies provide denialist defence mechanisms. Such deeply embedded denialism causes and/or facilitates human rights violations, because the true nature of the problems involved remains fully or partly unacknowledged and as a result appropriate action remains absent. In order to safeguard the effectuation of human rights it is thus pertinent to acknowledge and address this problem of denialism and develop strategies to move beyond it. To address the above-mentioned problem, an international conference was organised on the theme of Denialism and Human Rights by the Maastricht Centre for Human Rights in 2015, which brought together scholars, practitioners and students from various disciplines and fields to unearth and address denialism in the context of their own particular area of research.The present volume contains a unique collection of papers that were presented during the conference. The content of the papers ranges from more general reflections on the theme of denialism and human rights to more specific areas of research that are relevant in terms of denialism such as genocide, childrens rights, the role of (inter)national organisations, penology, and social, economic and cultural rights.

This edited volume explores recent research and developments in the study of organized crime. It covers six key areas: drug-related issues; human trafficking and prostitution; sports and crime; procurement and corruption; and enforcement and prevention.The contributors provide timely research for understanding various aspects of organized crime, as well as the responses that have been developed worldwide to prevent and contain them. These contributions were presented at seminars of the Centre for Information and Research on Organized Crime (CIROC). It will be of interest to researchers in Criminology and Criminal Justice, particularly with an interest in organized crime and criminal networks, as well as related fields such as Comparative Law, and Political Science.This collection represents the most current thinking on entrenched problems of organized crime….This book is an important contribution in developing new approaches to organized crime and its control.— Jay S. Albanese, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Criminal Justice Programs, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityThe book is very well organised and written and deals with a diversity of topics and approaches.— Ernesto U.Savona, Director of Transcrime, Professor of Criminology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan

This edited volume explores recent research and developments in the study of organized crime. It covers six key areas: drug-related issues; human trafficking and prostitution; sports and crime; procurement and corruption; and enforcement and prevention.The contributors provide timely research for understanding various aspects of organized crime, as well as the responses that have been developed worldwide to prevent and contain them. These contributions were presented at seminars of the Centre for Information and Research on Organized Crime (CIROC). It will be of interest to researchers in Criminology and Criminal Justice, particularly with an interest in organized crime and criminal networks, as well as related fields such as Comparative Law, and Political Science.This collection represents the most current thinking on entrenched problems of organized crime….This book is an important contribution in developing new approaches to organized crime and its control.— Jay S. Albanese, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Criminal Justice Programs, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityThe book is very well organised and written and deals with a diversity of topics and approaches.— Ernesto U.Savona, Director of Transcrime, Professor of Criminology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan

This edited volume brings together the most recent research about various aspects of organized crime and the responses that have developed worldwide as a result to contain serious criminal acts.

This edited volume brings together the most recent research about various aspects of organized crime and the responses that have developed worldwide as a result to contain serious criminal acts.