COMbatting CRIMes that undermine democratic societies governed by the rule of law in a smart and comprehensive manner

COMCRIM is an interdisciplinary research project within an innovative public-private consortium that studies crimes that undermine democracy and the rule of law (ondermijning) by focusing on their business models. The project specifically targets human trafficking, money laundering, and corruption, which are organized crimes themselves and enable the detection of forced commission of other organized crimes, whitewashing of criminal proceeds, and the effects of interweaving the under- and upperworld. Using unorthodox data sources such as banking records, COMCRIM conducts proactive crime detection, maps criminal networks, and models interventions to assess their social and economic impacts. With contributions from researchers and diverse partners including universities, banks, ministries, NGOs, and law enforcement agencies, the project aims to develop proactive, evidence-based strategies to strengthen resilience in democracy and the rule of law.

COMCRIM is a research project that looks at how serious crimes like human trafficking, corruption, and money laundering harm democracy and the rule of law. By investigating these crimes, the project helps uncover how people are forced into committing crimes, how criminal money is moved through the financial system, and how illegal activities can become entangled with the legal economy. Researchers work together with banks, government agencies, NGOs, and law enforcement, using unusual data sources such as banking records to detect crime early. The project also tests different approaches to disrupt criminal networks and supports the development of stronger, evidence-based policies.