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Wednesday, 3:29 PM
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AmendedWednesday, 5:02 PM

Research: Italian mafia approach partly useful for the Netherlands

Parts of the Italian anti-mafia legislation can be useful for the Netherlands to better combat organized crime. This emerges from a study by the University of Groningen. The Ministry of Justice and Security had asked for this, because the government wants to know what the Netherlands can learn from the Italian approach to the mafia. Strict laws have been in force there since the 1990s to curb the violence and influence of these criminal organizations.

In the first place, a better crown witness scheme is needed, as this study also underlines. Recently, there has been a lot of criticism of the lack of protection by the government, following the murders surrounding the trial of Ridouan Taghi.

Less room for negotiation
In Italy, crown witnesses and their environment are better protected by the government. At the same time, when making deals, there is less room for negotiation for mafia members who want to talk.

"It's take it or leave it there ," says researcher Laura Peters of the University of Groningen. "You have to declare what you know within 180 days. Only then will you enter a protection program."

Protection is not arranged by the Public Prosecution Service, as is still the case in the Netherlands, but by a separate organisation. "That offers us opportunities for improvement," says Peters.

Fragmented approach
The crown witness scheme is used much more often in Italy. Last year there were almost 900 crown witnesses in a protection program, in the Netherlands only a few.

Another point for improvement is the overview of criminal investigations and the sharing of information about criminals. In Italy, all investigations into mafia organizations are coordinated nationally by a special department of the Public Prosecutor's Office.

In the Netherlands, the approach to organized crime is fragmented. "We can learn from acting as one front against crime."

Not all relevant
But not all Italian anti-mafia laws are useful for the Netherlands. For example, there is already an article of law here to tackle criminal organisations. According to the research, it has not been shown that this does not work.

In Italy, the police have more investigative powers for tackling the mafia, but those powers already exist in the Netherlands.

Furthermore, in Italy there are shortened procedures for mafia trials to limit the number of sessions. This is also less relevant for the Netherlands, because, for example, witnesses here often do not have to be heard at a hearing.

Italy is different
Although in recent times Italians have been regularly looked at by administrators in the fight against crime, the situation cannot simply be compared to the Netherlands, the study warns.

"Here we see subversive crime with mafia-like features, but the question is to what extent you can compare that with the Italian mafia," says Peters. "So you can't take over those anti-mafia provisions one-on-one."

According to Peters, it is now necessary to look first at which specific characteristics of organized crime in the Netherlands need to be tackled better and where additional regulations are therefore required. The government will respond to the findings later.