The need to modernize Dutch emergency law has been given due attention in the wake of the Minister of Justice and Security’s parliamentary document regarding the Policy plan on Crisis management of July 3, 2018. This article focuses on a specific domain of emergency law, and discusses the issue of whether revising the separate activation of emergency legislation is opportune, given the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent and future threats and societal developments. I inquire the possibility of direct use of separate ministerial competences and the position of the parliament in the decision-making process regarding the continuation of this separate activation of emergency legislation.

It is expected that the Environmental Act will enter into force on 1 July 2023. With regard to the enforcement of the Environmental Act two types can be distinguished, namely administrative and criminal law enforcement. In essence the Environmental Act is administrative in nature, which means that there is an important role for administrative law enforcement. However, in many cases criminal law enforcement is possible as well. In this article the protection of animals in the Environmental Act is examined throughout a green criminological perspective. From a green criminological perspective the focus should be on criminal law enforcement instead of administrative enforcement. This should also be the case in the Environmental Act.

There is a growing awareness that tackling organized crime requires more than the traditional criminal law route, which is why an innovative approach to this problem is being sought. The use of various methods of shaming are regularly considered. However, little research has been done into the usefulness of shaming as a way of combatting serious crime. This article explores three Dutch cases of organized crime in which shaming has been used. It discusses the possibilities, limitations, risks and ethical dilemmas associated with the use of government shaming.

In recent years especially organized crime caused political unrest regarding the criminal justice system. In order to help safeguard the delicate balance between due process and crime control, this article advocates more systematic reflection on dilemmas in police work and criminal justice in general. In order to conceptually clarify this, the concept of reflexivity has been used. This article was based on an empirical study of the opinions of police officers, public prosecutors and criminal judges on the functioning of the criminal justice system.