Country Profile: The Netherlands -- An Exploratory Quantitative and Qualitative Research into Perceptions on Policing & Ethnic Profiling
43 Pages Posted: 28 Nov 2013
Date Written: January 1, 2013
Abstract
This country profile gives an overview of the available research on ethnic profiling in the Netherlands until January 2013. As the report shows, this research mostly focuses on citizen's perceptions on ethnic profiling. Although public perception on the functioning of state agents such as the police is very important for their legitimacy and the legitimacy of the criminal justice system as a whole, it is also equally important to be aware of the limited explanatory value of perceptions. In other words, although negative perceptions regarding the use of ethnic profiling by the police are an important indicator for closer government monitoring, it can not -- especially not for the case of the Netherlands since the available research is extremely limited -- justify the conclusion that ethnic profiling IS actually taking place. In order to be able to draw this conclusion, more research on public perceptions on policing is necessary as well as more research on police decision-making. The report aims to contribute to this necessity by presenting new quantitative and qualitative data on the perceptions of citizens from to medium sized cities in the Netherlands.
Keywords: ethnic profiling, policing, perceptions, decision-making
JEL Classification: J71, K14, J78, J79, K42, D81
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