Zoekresultaten

Mea Culpa de complexiteit van financiële problematiek onder reclasseringscliënten

The relationship between socioeconomic factors and crime is a classic theme in criminological literature. However, the relationship between debt and crime is still unclear, and little is known about the causality of this relationship and the factors that influence it. In addition, effective interventions and guidelines to adequately support offenders with debt are limited. Therefore, this thesis aims to systematically gain more insight into the factors that influence the relationship between debt and crime among probation clients and to contribute to developing tools that probation officers and other forensic social professionals can use to support clients with debt adequately. The relationship between debt and crime was studied by (1) a systematic and scoping literature review (5 studies were included in the systematic review and 24 studies in the scoping review), (2) a client file study including risk assessment data of a sample of 250 Dutch probation clients, (3) a quantitative study including recidivism data of the same sample of 250 Dutch probation clients, (4) interviews with 33 Dutch probation officers and 16 clients, and (5) a multiple case study focusing on working elements in the supervision of individual offenders (5 cases). The results show that debt is prevalent among probation clients, hinders resocialization, and increases recidivism risk. Debt and crime are not only related directly but are also related by a complex interplay of problems in different life domains, such as problems regarding childhood, education and work, and mental and physical health. Notwithstanding the strong relationship between debt and crime, financial assistance for probation clients with debts is limited. As debt is strongly related to problems in other life domains, a systematic collaboration between professionals of different disciplines is necessary to support clients with debt adequately.

Humanising the ‘dungeons’ of the bank

This paper reveals how the automatising of protocols ignited a public conflict between Dutch banks and their Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) clients in the years after the Global Financial Crisis. The bank’s “infirmary departments” for Financial Restructuring and Recovery (FR&R) were accused of (mal)treating SMEs. The conflict resulted in no formal regulatory or legal change despite public support. Instead, the banks created self-regulation to improve communication with SMEs, leading to shifts in governing FR&R for SMEs. This way, the banks mitigated significant negative symptoms of automation and solved the conflict with the SMEs while keeping FR&R and ongoing automation intact. The research uses an interdisciplinary analytical framework to understand national financial conflicts in a digitalised (business) world. It contributes to the theory of institutionalising values in discursive contests between action fields. The paper highlights the material and causes of normative conflicts of interest among critical actors in established public-private networks through discourse analysis and process tracing.

Entrepreneurial recovery and re-emergence: learning from failure

Krachtwerk on tour

In January 2013, a group of 6 professionals associated with the HvA Research and development Centre for society and Law made a study trip to the USA. Under the name "Krachtwerk on tour" they traveled three weeks through the USA, covering about 7000 km from Boston to San Francisco and Berkeley, through New york, Chicago, Kansas and Los. They visited 25 projects, organizations and research groups and spoke with over 115 professionals. The study trip was inspired by reorganizations in the welfare state of the Netherlands. The Dutch model was moving towards a more American model of individual responsibility. By meeting the frontrunners in the field, the authors gathered experiences and ideas they could can use in their research, education, and practice. In their concluding chapter, they describe their general and personal impressions. Because peer run organizations have been applied in The States for many years, visiting these organizations was a source of inspiration for similar projects in the Netherlands. During their tour, the authors maintained a blog on http://krachtwerkontour.blogspot.nl/ with stories and videos.

Outcomes of living in a self managed shelter

Introduction and methodology In self-managed residential homeless care, consumers, and their peers, are in charge. Former consumers (N=24) of a self-managed homeless shelter were interviewed with qualitative structured topic-lists on the benefits they experienced. Former consumers of the program participated as co-researchers, together with students and experienced researchers. This research is part of a larger program researching self-managed residential programs. ResultsIn the self-managed shelter consumers can work on their recovery towards independent living. For the respondents, the self-managed shelter is a place where they can stay for a longer period without the stress of having to look for another place and without the hassle from social workers telling them what to do and how to behave. How the former consumers used this stability and freedom differs. Some worked towards independent living on their own, others also developed skills, self-worth and new social roles (helper, friend) through participation and others used the shelter to stay free from stress and hassle. Moving on towards independent living isn’t an immediate goal for the latter, although many consumers in the end started working towards independent living.Most of the respondents state that their live has improved when it comes to mental health, living situations and social aspects, although some respondents report issues with finances and social contacts. DiscussionThere are two main limitations to our research. Firstly, consumers who only stayed for a short while, consumers who stayed in the shelter more than a few years ago and consumer who left the program are underrepresented in our data. Secondly, a lot of the respondents deflected questions about their personal recovery (self-worth, trust, self-efficacy), because this ‘was not relevant for them’. Anecdotal evidence from peer workers and social workers and some of the respondents suggests that staying in the self-managed shelter contributes to personal recovery of consumers as well, but more research is necessary to determine how and to what extend consumers work on their personal recovery within self-managed programs.

“A Chinese Wall along our Eastern Border” – Allied Occupation Policy in Germany and its Consequences for Dutch-German Trade Relations, 1945-1949

After the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich in May 1945, Germany no longer existed as a sovereign, independent nation. It was occupied by the four Allied powers: France, Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union. When it came to the postwar European recovery, the biggest obstacle was that the economy in Germany, the dominant continental economic power before the Second World War, was at an almost complete standstill. This not only had severe consequences for Germany itself, but also had strong economic repercussions for surrounding countries, especially the Netherlands. As Germany had been the former’s most important trading partner since the middle of the nineteenth century, it was clear that the Netherlands would be unable to recover economically without a healthy Germany. However, Allied policy, especially that of the British and the Americans, made this impossible for years. This article therefore focuses on the early postwar Dutch-German trade relations and the consequences of Allied policy. While much has been written about the occupation of Germany, far less attention has been paid to the results of this policy on neighbouring countries. Moreover, the main claim of this article is that it was not Marshall Aid which was responsible for the quick and remarkable Dutch economic growth as of 1949, but the opening of the German market for Dutch exports that same year. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbwg-2018-0009 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martijn-lak-71793013/