Proactive policing and equal treatment of ethnic-minority youths

Abstract

Proactive policing aims at suppressing delinquency at an early stage. In the Netherlands, it is applied, inter alia, to youths and youth groups to prevent them from slipping off into delinquent behaviour and crime. Proactive policing implies that police officers keep in touch with local youths and monitor their behaviour. Furthermore, it entails police officers applying discretion in giving warnings, in asking for identification and in conducting stop and search. This contribution reports on an empirical investigation among 231 youths, interviewed on the street and in youth centres, to establish whether this proactive policing results in unequal treatment of ethnic minority youths. The main finding is that although proactive policing in the Netherlands is associated with considerable outcome inequality, the extent of unequal treatment of ethnic minority youths is surprisingly limited.

Crime among young Moroccan men in the Netherlands: Does their regional origin matter?

“…Recently there has been a heated discussion on the issue of ethnic profiling by the Dutch police. The results of empirical research are not conclusive so far (Bovenkerk, 2014;Cankaya, 2012;Svensson and Saharso, 2014). However, as Junger-Tas argued about the exceptional rise of Moroccan crime rates that began to appear in the 1990s: 'Even if the police is prejudiced this would not explain the disparities in crime rates between various minorities.…”

(Cr)immigrant framing in border areas: decision-making processes of Dutch border police officers

“…Especially youngsters with a Moroccan background are seen as disproportionally involved in various forms of street crime and often negatively portrayed in the media (Boomgaarden and Vliegenthart 2007). Both Svensson and Saharso (2014) and (Van der Leun and Van der Woude 2011) argue that this discourse, combined with the emergence of a Dutch version of the culture of control (Garland 2001, van Swaaningen 2005, Pakes 2006), has increased the risk of ethnoracial profiling by the police and other controlling organisations. Recent debates around ethnoracial profiling by the police are also to a large extent centred around the question whether young men with a Moroccan background are disproportionally targeted (Amnesty International 2013).…”

“…Tillyer and Hartley (2010) claim that general negative sentiments in society towards migrant groups can affect the views held by street-level bureaucrats and therefore lead to prejudices informing the decisions they make. In the Netherlands a discourse has developed in which various ethnic minority groups are linked to crime and other social issues (Eijkman 2010, Svensson andSaharso 2014). Especially youngsters with a Moroccan background are seen as disproportionally involved in various forms of street crime and often negatively portrayed in the media (Boomgaarden and Vliegenthart 2007).…”

Ethnicity and Crime in the Netherlands

“…Scholars have not fully investigated whether the police profile immigrants because of their ethnicity (van der Leun & van der Woude, 2011, p. 452). Also, scholars have suggested that the research on ethnic profiling needs to be contemporary (Svensson & Saharso, 2015). Researchers have argued that there has been a substantial shift in the policies targeting ethnic groups within the Netherlands (Downes, 2007; van der Leun & van der Woude, 2011; van der Woude, van der Leun, & Nijland, 2014).…”