Cyrille Fijnaut Research Articles

Book Review of Letizia Paoli, Cyrille Fijnaut and Jan Wouters Eds., The Nexus Between Organized Crime and Terrorism: Types and Responses. Cheltenham/Northampton, Elgar, 2022, 523 pp

Book Review of Letizia Paoli, Cyrille Fijnaut and Jan Wouters Eds., The Nexus Between Organized Crime and Terrorism: Types and Responses. Cheltenham/Northampton, Elgar, 2022, 523 pp

Book review: A Peaceful Revolution: The Development of Police and Judicial Cooperation in the European Union by Cyrille Fijnaut. (Cambridge: Intersentia, 2019)

Book review: <i>A Peaceful Revolution: The Development of Police and Judicial Cooperation in the European Union </i> by Cyrille Fijnaut. (Cambridge: Intersentia, 2019)

Cyrille Fijnaut: a pioneer from the low countries

ABSTRACT Inspired by American pioneers in the field of police research like Jerome Skolnick, Cyrille Fijnaut resigned in 1969 as a police lieutenant from the police force in the city of Tilburg, the Netherlands in order to create the opportunity to study criminology and philosophy at the KU Leuven in Belgium. At the same university, he wrote in the years 1974–1978 his Ph.D. dissertation on the political history of policing in Europe since the Napoleonic Era. This thesis became the starting point of a rich career as a professor of criminology and criminal law at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the KU Leuven, Tilburg University and NYU Law School (Global Law School Programme). Over the years, he became an internationally renowned expert in the fields of police and judicial cooperation, organized crime and terrorism, and the transatlantic history of criminology and the criminal justice system. In these and other fields he wrote some 50 books and edited some 50 volumes, and published more than 400 articles in academic and professional journals. In addition, he was one of the founding fathers of the Belgian journal of criminology and criminal law Panopticon and the European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice. He also served as an expert in some of Dutch and Belgian committees of inquiry, e.g. the committee that investigated the safety and security problems of Pim Fortuyn, the Dutch politician who was killed in May 2002. The Dutch government rewarded him with a Knighthood in the Order of the Dutch Lion, and the Belgian government appointed him Commandeur in the Crown Order.

Combatting and analysing organized crime: the view from witnesses

This special issue of Trends in Organized Crime begins with a tribute to Joseph Albini who died in 2013 written by his colleague Jeff McIllwain and ends with Matthew G. Yeager’s reexamination of the career of John Landesco, among the earliest pioneers in the study of organized crime. In between are interviews with eight people whose careers gave them unique insights into the workings of organized criminality and allowed them to witness the creation of organized crime control efforts in America, Europe and at international levels as well as the implementation of these efforts. Dwight Smith, Frederick Martens, Selwyn Raab, James Jacobs, Cyrille Fijnaut, Ernesto Savona, Petrus van Duyne and Alan Wright were asked questions about their career experiences and the evolution of their thinking on organized crime and organized crime control. We normally find out about historical processes second hand through sources that are often unreliable and suspect. The testimonies and analyses in this volume sometimes clash with each other but more often complement each other. Taken together they are all first-hand accounts of the creation and workings of organized crime control, written by people who have dedicated much of their working lives to the effort to researching, understanding and combatting organized crime.

The analysis and containment of organized crime in Europe: an interview with Cyrille Fijnaut

This email interview with Cyrille Fijnaut was conducted during 2013 and 2014. It discusses Fijnaut’s background, influences, career and current thinking and activities from his early career in the Dutch police in the 1960s, through to his work as a criminologist for academia and governments. His main research interests are related to organized crime and terrorism, international police and judicial cooperation, comparative criminal procedure and police law, the history of European and American criminology and of policing in Europe, and police and judicial cooperation in the Benelux. In these fields he has written and edited some 75 books and published hundreds of articles in national and international journals and edited books. In 2004 he edited together with Letizia Paoli, Organized Crime in Europe: Concepts, Patterns and Control Policies in the European Union and Beyond. In addition he has worked in the last 20 years as an expert for a number of governmental and parliamentary committees of inquiry in Belgium and the Netherlands with regard to organized and professional crime problems and in relation to security issues. Currently he is working on a book on the future of police and judicial cooperation in the framework of the internal and external security policies of the European Union.

Book Review: Covert human intelligence; a view from the police

More than 20 years ago Gary Marx broke ground with his foray into the sociology of undercover policing. His view was, and still is, that these policing tactics are essentially a necessary evil, but that they are a double-edged sword and that it is conceivable that such methods can, in principle, be regulated and controlled in order that the worst excesses and least desirable (unintended) outcomes are avoided. In his review of the original book, the European criminologist Cyrille Fijnaut basically agreed, but he also signaled his awareness of the corrupting potentiality of police undercover practices and of the need to bring them under the cover of law and legality. Covert policing tactics raise troubling questions that are with us still. Roger Billingsley’s slim edited collection is a recent addition to this literature and, although under theorized and largely descriptive, it will be a useful resource to academic criminologists and other scholars who are interested to explore and understand the latest developments. Whilst mainly focused on the contemporary situation in the United Kingdom, the contributions in the book (mostly penned by former or currently serving police officers or lawyers) offer many useful insights into one crucial tactic in the broad array of covert policing practices: the use of clandestine informers. The book is divided into three sections. The first deals with legal issues: the perspective of defense lawyers, the administrative regulation of covert human intelligence sources (CHIS), the use of promises of immunity in informant handling, Crime Law Soc Change (2010) 53:205–206 DOI 10.1007/s10611-009-9218-9

Repliek

ResponseIt is good for the further development of historical research into the police force that the reviews not only extol the virtues of the study in question, but also ask pertinent questions about the basic principles behind the research, the way in which the subject was methodically examined, and how the findings were edited. The question in the critique written by Van Doorslaer concerning the magistrature’s role in how the Dutch police operated during the German Occupation, is a matter that certainly deserves more attention than it received in this study. However, anyone wishing to give an informed answer to this question would not only have to scrutinize the relationship between the magistrates and the police, but would also have to closely examine the relationship between the government and the police as well. This is because in the Netherlands the government traditionally has a lot to say with regard to the police. The question, therefore, is how did both of these institutions function towards the police during the German Occupation. The core question in the comments made by Jansen is whether enough attention was given to the position of the police in the constitutional state. He is of the opinion that the problematic matter of police authority was inadequately dealt with. Indeed, this issue was largely bypassed, although this was not the case with regard to the position of the police in the constitutional state. Its relationship with government and the legal system, in other words, how the police force is embedded within the state system, is traditionally seen as one of the key questions in this context. Spierenburg argues in his critique that the politicalorganisational developments are dealt with in too biased a fashion in this study and so the professional developments in the police machinery and the changes in the monopoly on the use of force are skirted over. This statement cuts no ice for a variety of reasons. The main one is that the changes in the monopoly on the use of force and in the police profession take shape, first and foremost, in the organisational development of the police. This link between them is continuously and rigourously examined in this study. This review is part of the discussion forum 'De geschiedenis van de Nederlandse politie' (Cyrille Fijnaut).

Sociale controle, misdaad en het geweldsmonopolie. De veranderende rol van de politie

Social Control, Crime and the Monopoly on the Use of Force. The Changing Role of the PoliceThis review article identifies three major developments within the history of the police force in Europe: 1. the spread of the police force and their politicolegal organization; 2. the transition from a multi-functional institution providing various services and fostering a traditional mentality to a professional apparatus focused on crime prevention; 3. changes in the relationship between the police and the state's monopoly on the use of force, eventually leading to a more restrained and politically neutral form of maintaining law and order. De geschiedenis van de Nederlandse politie deals disproportionately with the first aspect. Within the second field, there is little attention for the mentality and additional tasks of nineteenth century policemen, but sufficient attention for the differentiation in police work in the twentieth century. With respect to item 3, the focus is overwhelmingly on the suppression of social protests. The relationship between the police and the people, in particular the ‘charming offensive’ during the 1970s, remains largely unexplored. This review is part of the discussion forum 'De geschiedenis van de Nederlandse politie' (Cyrille Fijnaut).

Twee eeuwen politiebestel en veranderend recht

Two Centuries of the Police Force and Changes in the LawThe Editorial Board has asked me ‘to reflect upon the institutional history of the police with regard to the altered norms of justice’. I limited myself to the principles and rules of constitutional and criminal law. In my view, Fijnaut pays little attention in his book to the combined action of basic constitutional tenets, requirements and principles on the one hand, and the integration and functioning of the police within the Dutch state system on the other, although he does consider the police to be a government institution pur sang. The development of the principle of legality, in particular (which means that an action cannot be deemed punishable, nor be punished, without first going through the proper legal channels) is underexposed. Put more generally, many chapters only refer in passing to the interaction between developments within criminal law and the duties of the police, including how the police interpret and implement their duties. The latter are indeed an explicit part of the analytical framework of Fijnaut’s book. This review is part of the discussion forum 'De geschiedenis van de Nederlandse politie' (Cyrille Fijnaut).

On organized crime and police cooperation in the European union - Lessons learned. An interview with Professor Cyrille Fijnaut.

Professor Fijnaut sheds new light on understanding organized crime from a multifaceted perspective. Organized crime in Europe, as in America, confronts law enforcement agencies with new challenges which demands new and different perspectives in order to effectively fight current and future threats. By focusing on the violence associated with organized criminals and on formal mechanisms involving control and trust as basis for inter-agency linkages, he circumscribes two of the most challenging issues in dealing with organized crime. He points out that organized crime groups are not necessarily hierarchical, stable and functional in the way they conduct their business. Professor Fijnaut makes the point that the impact of organized crime groups' activities extend well beyond the strictly criminal arena.

Tradeoffs in Undercover Investigations: A Comparative Perspective

One of the darker sides of the increasingly unregulated movement of persons and goods across national borders is the internationalization of crime and the networks that sponsor it. Efforts to expand criminal investigations across national borders create an urgent need to coordinate U.S. efforts with those of other governments. To meet this need, cooperating countries will have to assess the legitimacy of law enforcement methods that, while routine in the United States, are greeted with skepticism elsewhere. Among the most controversial of these methods is the use of covert tactics, especially undercover investigations, to infiltrate criminal networks. Different countries vary significantly in their attitudes toward the legitimacy of undercover investigations and in their approaches to regulating them. Responding to the increasing need of European and American policymakers to coordinate their efforts against crime, two highly synthetic and wide-ranging anthologies have collected the contributions of legal scholars, sociologists, criminologists, police officials, and policymakers in an effort to illuminate the differing national contours of the debate about undercover policing. The first of these books, Undercover: Police Surveillance in Comparative Perspective, came out in 1995. The editors are the Dutch criminologist Cyrille Fijnaut, who has written extensively about the European experience with undercover policing, and the American sociologist Gary Marx, who has authored seminal work on American undercover policing, including the invaluable Undercover: Police Surveillance in America! The second work, Undercover Policing and Accountability from an In-

Undercover police surveillance in comparative perspective : Edited by Cyrille Fijnaut and Gary T. Marx Kluwer Law International (P.O. Box 85889, 2508 CN The Hague, The Netherlands), 1995, 337 pp., softcover—$124.00

Undercover police surveillance in comparative perspective : Edited by Cyrille Fijnaut and Gary T. Marx Kluwer Law International (P.O. Box 85889, 2508 CN The Hague, The Netherlands), 1995, 337 pp., softcover—$124.00

Organized Crime and Its Containment. A Transatlantic Initiative. Ed. By Cyrille Fijnaut and James Jacobs. Deventer; Boston: Kluwer Law and Taxation Publishers, 1991. Pp. x, 205. Dfl. 100.00; US $48.00 (paperback).

Organized Crime and Its Containment. A Transatlantic Initiative. Ed. By Cyrille Fijnaut and James Jacobs. Deventer; Boston: Kluwer Law and Taxation Publishers, 1991. Pp. x, 205. Dfl. 100.00; US $48.00 (paperback).

ORGANIZED CRIME: A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND WESTERN EUROPE

Journal Article ORGANIZED CRIME: A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND WESTERN EUROPE Get access CYRILLE FIJNAUT CYRILLE FIJNAUT *Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology, Erasmus University, Rotterdam and Catholic UniversityLeuven Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The British Journal of Criminology, Volume 30, Issue 3, Summer 1990, Pages 321–340, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjc.a048024 Published: 01 July 1990