Research into liquidations provides insight into the background of perpetrators

Never before has scientific research into this subject collected information so close to the source. In addition to information from Public Prosecution Service criminal files, this concerns unique police data and life stories of convicted persons involved in liquidations, a combination of quantitative and qualitative data. The findings from the report thus contribute to practice-oriented action perspectives to combat the breeding ground for involvement in liquidations.

An average of 10 liquidations take place in the Netherlands every year. For the period 2016 to 2021, this concerns 57 liquidations. Most liquidations take place in the evenings and during the week in the Randstad area on a public road or in a parking lot. Firearms were used in all liquidations.

Default as a motive

The most common motive for a liquidation is breach of contract, in the drug trade or in the execution of liquidation orders. This is followed by theft – of money or drugs – and talking to investigative services or in the criminal environment. Four out of five liquidations in the Netherlands are cocaine related. The vast majority of liquidations result in one fatality; 11 of the 62 victims were not intended. They became victims due to a fatal presence or fatal resemblance to the intended victim, a so-called mistaken murder.

“Thanks to this unique, scientific research, we know first-hand how and why convicts became involved in liquidations,” Sitalsing responds. Motives for carrying out or participating in a liquidation range from revenge and financial gain to wanting to belong and loyalty, the research shows. It is striking that the majority of liquidations take place within their own group and not among rival groups.

Much preventive gain can be achieved

The research shows that shooters are not getting younger and that almost all of them are known to the police before committing the murder, with an average of 27 criminal offenses. This includes many violent crimes. The average age of gunmen involved in liquidations is 28.9 years. At the start of a criminal career, a shooter is on average sixteen years old. From 2017 onwards, the average age of shooters will decrease every year. However, this is not so much due to the increase in younger shooters, but to the decrease in older shooters.

Problems often start in teenage years

The so-called ‘breeding ground’ of involvement in liquidations is complex. The interviews with those involved show that problems in the teenage years lead, among other things, to unauthorized school absences and that those involved are increasingly drifting towards crime. For the most part, the teenage period is marked by a criminal neighborhood or family with wrong examples, missed connection with a parent, poverty and a desire for excitement.

“Although we cannot predict the action, there is a lot to be gained preventively,” says Sitalsing. ‘An approach that takes into account the entire context in which vulnerable young people grow up is necessary. An approach in which partners such as the police and municipalities, but also district-oriented (youth) workers, teachers, parents and young people, work closely together. Only when this importance is widely felt can we combat this problem effectively and for the long term.’

The research was conducted at the initiative of the RIEC Central Netherlands, together with ESSA Research, Erasmus University Rotterdam and the National Police Unit, on behalf of Police & Science.