‘Stories from the shadows’ narrative poses of incarcerated men convicted of murder related to organized crime in the Netherlands

In this paper, we present four distinct narrative poses – the ‘DIY’er’, the ‘Professional’, the ‘Naïve’, and the ‘Denier who knows’ – adopted by incarcerated men involved in organized crime-related murders in the Netherlands. Drawing on life story interviews conducted in five Dutch prisons between 2020 and 2022, this study offers a unique emic perspective on how these individuals construct meaning around their involvement in lethal violence. It reveals how they position themselves within the specific moral and cultural framework of organized crime. While the narrative poses of the ‘DIY’er’ and the ‘Professional’ closely align with established criminological understandings of violent crime dynamics, the ‘Naïve’ and the ‘Denier who knows’ offer more nuanced and layered forms of meaning-making, challenging dominant interpretations. As the first study to explore organized crime-murders using first-hand Dutch prison data, this research demonstrates the plural, often contradictory self-representations, advancing academic understanding on the diverse narrative stances adopted by incarcerated men involved in organized crime-related murder.