Mobsters are human too: Behavioural science and organized crime investigation

The paper describes the organized criminal, and the fight against organized crime from a behavioural point of view. The author considers the organized criminal a crime-entrepreneur who has to operate in an enduring violent en trepreneurial landscape in which he has to cope with the problem of social information management. The article described how the police can add a soci al psychological approach to the traditional investigative methods. It prov ides some experience obtained in the Netherlands in which the psychologist assisted the crime squad during the investigation, trial preparation and tr ial. It argues in favour of a more analytical, hypothesis testing method in which the behavioural scientist is integrated in the operational organized crime squad instead of acting as an outside consultant.