ABSTRACT
There are indications that there has been a rise in crime among illegal migrants in the Netherlands. Previous analyses of police data have shown that, while in 1997 31 per cent of apprehensions involving such migrants were related to crime, this share had increased to 38 per cent in 2000 (Engbersen et al. 2002). In 2003 the figure was 45 per cent (Leerkes et al. 2004) and in 2004 it went up to 49 per cent (Boekhoorn et al. 2004). The crimes concerned are mostly theft, identity fraud and involvement in drug dealing. Illegal residence as such does not fall under Criminal Law in the Netherlands (ACVZ 2002) and will thus not be counted as a crime here.
