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Dutch Crips Run Dry in Liquid Society

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Gang Transitions and Transformations in an International Context

Abstract

Crips and Bloods were reported in the Netherlands in the early 1990s, especially in the city of The Hague. A study based on police and justice files described young immigrant males that copied the American gangs introduced to them via films and popular music (Crips in drievoud; Een dossieronderzoek naar drie jeugdbendes, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1998; The Eurogang Paradox: Street gangs and youth groups in the U.S. and Europe, Boston, MA, 2001). Now, two decades later, there are still Crips in Dutch cities, but the heydays are over. Adding recent ethnographic research in The Hague (In de h200d. Een eigentijdse etnografie over de inbedding van criminaliteit en identiteit. Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2016) and Amsterdam (Rollin’ met mannen die de straat kennen, 2014) to the older research, this chapter presents a longitudinal picture of Crips in the Netherlands. The process of desistance is described by looking at a few core members in both cities, while paying attention to youth culture in a changing context.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Suriname became independent in 1975. That year, inhabitants were to choose between the Surinamese and the Dutch nationality. Many decided for the latter option and as a consequence they migrated to the Netherlands. In the 1980s youth from Surinamese descent drew attention because of integration difficulties that coincided with the introduction of heroin in the major Dutch cities. The Antilles consist of six islands in the Caribbean area that are part of the Dutch Kingdom. Citizens can travel freely between the isles and the Netherlands. Some of the isles have a “status aparte,” but formally they are still part of the Dutch kingdom. Currently, youngsters of Surinamese descent seem well integrated in Dutch society. Even though their number is smaller, Antillean youth play a more problematic role, as police statistics show.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminal Law & Criminology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Frank van Gemert

  2. Department of Criminology, School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Robby Roks

  3. Department of Applied Psychology, Hogeschool Leiden, University of Applied Sciences, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Marijke Drogt

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  1. Frank van Gemert
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  2. Robby Roks
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  3. Marijke Drogt
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Correspondence to Frank van Gemert .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology, Law, and Soc., University of California, Irvine, California, USA

    Cheryl L. Maxson

  2. Department of Criminology and Crim Jus, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

    Finn-Aage Esbensen

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van Gemert, F., Roks, R., Drogt, M. (2016). Dutch Crips Run Dry in Liquid Society. In: Maxson, C., Esbensen, FA. (eds) Gang Transitions and Transformations in an International Context. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29602-9_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29602-9_9

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