The Netherlands has endorsed a unique system regarding the management, disclosure and screening of criminal records. Disclosure to third parties is strongly restricted, yet all (potential)... Show moreThe Netherlands has endorsed a unique system regarding the management, disclosure and screening of criminal records. Disclosure to third parties is strongly restricted, yet all (potential) employees can request a government agency to provide a risk assessment − known as a Certificate of Conduct (‘VOG’ in Dutch) − for every kind of employment application to determine whether they are fit for a given job. This article explains how and why this Dutch policy approach, deemed respectful of individual privacy rights, can nonetheless go hand in hand with the promotion, proliferation and pervasiveness of criminal record screening. It challenges the often dichotomic approach of the comparative literature on criminal record policies and helps understand that privacy protection alone cannot be fully equated with the rehabilitation and re-entry in society of people with a criminal history. Although the Dutch criminal record system avoids any unnecessary publicity of criminal record data, it nonetheless triggers adverse impairments on reintegration processes through stigmatisation and exclusion resulting from the ubiquitous use of Certificates of Conduct in the labour market. This questions the promotion of the Dutch screening instrument as an exemplary model for criminal record information sharing within Europe. Show less
To limit the collateral consequences of a criminal record, there is increasing attention for ‘evidence of rehabilitation’, which can counterbalance risk factors stemming from a criminal history,... Show moreTo limit the collateral consequences of a criminal record, there is increasing attention for ‘evidence of rehabilitation’, which can counterbalance risk factors stemming from a criminal history, for example when assessing requests for a Certificate of Conduct (‘VOG’ in Dutch). Since screening procedures are often regarded as complex, opaque, ambiguous and inconsistent – also by professionals within the criminal justice system – the authors present a first quantitative analysis of the factors that contribute to the chance of successfully winning a Certificate of Conduct in appeal. Our analysis of all published case law since 2004 (N=383) shows that administrative judges in Certificate of Conduct cases mainly refer to risk factors based on the criminal history: the number and seriousness of the offences and the times lapsed. Protective factors and evidence of rehabilitation play only a marginal role. Moreover, in a significant proportion of cases it remains unclear how relevant factors, such as the applicant’s interest, are weighed, if they are referred to at all. This necessitates not only reconsideration of rehabilitation policy, but also more foreseeability, certainty and transparency in criminal record screening decisions. Show less
This research focuses on the relationship between higher education and the world of work to situate and examine dynamics of change and organizational adaptation of Chilean universities through the... Show moreThis research focuses on the relationship between higher education and the world of work to situate and examine dynamics of change and organizational adaptation of Chilean universities through the development of new management capacities associated with a global employability agenda.To this end, the emergence and spread of employability as a concept, practice and political instrument in higher education worldwide was analysed. The Chilean case was looked into as an iconic example of the economic transformations that the global university sector is currently experimenting. A detailed empiric examination of the main aspects of the discourses on employability in Chile was carried out. The national scenario was described in terms of the insertion and functioning of new management capacities to boost employability at universities. Finally, the origin, development and status of these organisational capacities in relation to the evolution of the formal structure of said organisations was studied in depth.The results allow for the visualisation of significant effects of pressures that comes from universities’ institutional environments. At the same time, it reveals ways in which market disputes become opaque and are ideologically neutralised under the blanket of supposedly shared global aspirations, such as what occurs with the employability agenda. Show less