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 – ...

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...

Fighting Poverty and Violence analyzes what is needed to abolish the worst forms of human deprivation. Based on many international studies about the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it concludes that only two percent of world income is needed to provide all human beings with safe drinking water, sanitation, food, basic education, and simple health care. The poorest people also incur the largest numbers of victims due to wars, disasters, and pandemics. This book contains practical suggestions...

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 ...

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...

Wherever you are right now, there’s a good chance that an object in your vicinity is connected to the stories told in this book. The phone in your pocket, the chair you’re sitting on, or the shirt you’re wearing – they likely travelled to you on a large container ship, which burned bunker fuel. Alternatively, petroleum-based substances were likely used in their production, which involved the generation of waste oils. We rarely talk about waste oils or bunker fuel, yet they are essenti...

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...

This book is the result of an analysis and reflection on crime risks and financial criminal activity taking place in European professional football in recent decades. Its main goal is to discuss some relevant criminological issues in relation to the financing and ownership of professional football clubs and the transfer of players. As the title suggests, the book covers both the outrageous business patterns and habits – and the associated high risk of financial crime – that have manifeste...

In social care, mobilizing network support is a topical issue. Networks are at the heart of Family Group Conferencing, or Family Group Decision Making. FGC originated in New Zealand but has spread to many countries worldwide. In this book, FGC researchers with different methodological orientations discuss their findings and reflect candidly on the methodological choices they made and the challenges faced. The ‘what works’ versus ‘context’ controversy in social work research is highlig...