This article questions the impact of urbanization on crime rates by studying Amsterdam migrants in front of the correctional court between 1850 and 1905 and connecting the historiography on crime... Show moreThis article questions the impact of urbanization on crime rates by studying Amsterdam migrants in front of the correctional court between 1850 and 1905 and connecting the historiography on crime and migration. The data shows no clear link between urbanization and a rise in crime, but it does reveal the role of external factors in the prosecution of specific crimes. The crisis experienced by the urban labour market in the late 1870 and 1880s had a direct impact on Amsterdam crime rates: although Amsterdam could initially integrate low-skilled workers in its labour market, the situation became unsustainable after a few years. It led to an increase in the prosecution of vagrancy and begging offences, which were committed first and foremost by Dutch unemployed or unskilled migrant workers. This article thus shows the importance of considering migrants in crime history not as a homogenous group but as different groups, each with its own support networks, and influenced differently by the micro- and macro-economic developments of the nineteenth century. Show less
This article builds on recent calls in urban and gender history for a better understanding of the interaction between gender and the urban environment. Its focus is on male and female offending... Show moreThis article builds on recent calls in urban and gender history for a better understanding of the interaction between gender and the urban environment. Its focus is on male and female offending behaviours and their relation to the urban space, specifically the spaces shared by women and men: the home, the street outside of their house, and the main thoroughfares. The article aims to shed light on common practices and understandings between men and women, while highlighting potential differences. The analysis is based on the mapping of offending behaviours recorded by Leiden police court and Amsterdam correctional court in the second half of the nineteenth century. In part, the article confirms what other historians have already shown: women were on average accused of committing an offence closer to their home than men, but they were also very much present in the streets around their house. But the data presented also shows that women and men were more or less mobile according to the time of day, that they shared a common understanding of what their neighbourhood represented, and that work was an important reason why women would commute outside of their neighbourhood. Overall, the article confirms the value of a nuanced view of gender and the use of the urban space. Show less
De Nederlandse rechtbankarchieven uit de negentiende eeuw herbergen een schat aan informatie over allerhande strafbare gedragingen en de personen die deze pleegden. Echter, in vergelijking met... Show moreDe Nederlandse rechtbankarchieven uit de negentiende eeuw herbergen een schat aan informatie over allerhande strafbare gedragingen en de personen die deze pleegden. Echter, in vergelijking met andere tijdvakken heeft de negentiende-eeuwse criminaliteit in Nederland op betrekkelijk weinig aandacht van historici mogen rekenen en met name de archieven van de lagere rechtbanken, die van arrondissementen en de kantons, zijn weinig onderzocht. De constatering van deze lacune vormt de aanleiding om de dataset die uit het onderzoeksproject ‘Dangerous Cities: Mapping Crime in Amsterdam and Leiden, 1850 – 1913’ is voortgekomen op easy.dans.knaw.nl openbaar te maken, om dit aspect van de negentiende-eeuwse Nederlandse geschiedenis en met name het archiefmateriaal van de arrondissementsrechtbank en het kantongerecht onder de aandacht te brengen. Show less
Heijden, M.P.C. van der; Pluskota, M.; Muurling, S.T.D. 2020
