The Politics of “Stop & Search” in the Netherlands: A Process of Juridification

This chapter deals with the politics of “stop and search” in the Netherlands. Because in this country the political processes in relation to this issue are fragmented, different case studies are used to understand what actors, factors and processes are involved in this political process The first three of these case studies of debate and decision-making can be seen as examples of top-down processes. They concern the introduction of then new powers of the Dutch police: administrative restraint, identity check and preventative search. The fourth case study deals with a bottom-up political process about ethnic profiling and discrimination by the Dutch police. These political processes have a much longer duration than often assumed. In each case, the political dynamics depend strongly on the conflicting relations between different groups of actors: politicians, human rights defenders and certain stakeholders. These political processes usually continue after the introduction of the new powers. This chapter concludes with the hypothesis that “stop and search” in the Netherlands and its negative side-effects should not be seen as the results of a preventative turn, but as the outcome of processes of juridification.