The truck driver who bought a café: Offenders on their involvement mechanisms for organized crime
| Author | M. Vere Van Koppen,Christianne J. De Poot |
| DOI | 10.1177/1477370812456346 |
| Published date | 01 January 2013 |
| Date | 01 January 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
European Journal of Criminology
10(1) 74 –88
© The Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/1477370812456346
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The truck driver who bought
a café: Offenders on their
involvement mechanisms for
organized crime
M. Vere Van Koppen
Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), The Netherlands; Research
and Documentation Centre (WODC), Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice, The Netherlands
Christianne J. De Poot
Research and Documentation Centre (WODC), Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice, The Netherlands;
University of Applied Sciences (HvA), The Netherlands; Police Academy, The Netherlands
Abstract
The present study aims at understanding how individuals engage in organized crime activities.
Processes responsible for organized crime involvement are still poorly understood, particularly
for those who become engaged only later in life. In-depth interviews with 16 inmates, all convicted
of participation in organized crime and incarcerated in Dutch prisons, illuminate how individuals
at different life stages become involved in crime in general, and in organized crime activities in
particular. Most participants we interviewed turn out to have experienced an adult onset in
crime. Their involvement mechanisms are analysed and compared with mechanisms applicable
to offenders with an early start in crime. It was found that offenders with an early start in crime
have a wealth of opportunities and criminal contacts, whereas individuals who become involved
in crime later in life are exposed to crime opportunities in conventional settings.
Keywords
Adult-onset offending, offender interviews, organized crime
Introduction
Organized crime, as it is commonly understood, refers to criminal groups involved in a
broad range of more or less complex illegal activities. The common feature of these
groups is that they are ‘primarily focused on obtaining illegal profits, systematically
Corresponding author:
M. Vere Van Koppen, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Law, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV, Amsterdam.
Email: mv.van.koppen@vu.nl
456346EUC10110.1177/1477370812456346European Journal of Criminologyvan Koppen and de Poot
2013
Article
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