Since 2007, an organisation called ‘Slachtoffer in Beeld’ offers victims and juvenile delinquents the opportunity to engage in victim-offender dialogue. Since 2010, it is also possible for adult offenders to engage in victim-offender dialogue. Van Montfoort Advisory evaluated the implementation of victim-offender dialogue in 2010. The article sums up the most relevant conclusions of the evaluation, with a focus on conclusions related to victims. Results related to the internal implementation at ‘Slachtoffer in Beeld’ and the external implemention at organisations who refer to victim-offender dialogue are presented. Numbers of referrals are shown. It is striking to see that most referrals are coming from organisations working with offenders, even though victim-offender dialogue is, given the parlementary history, primarily an offer for victims. In the article reasons are given to explain the difference between the number of referrals from victim oriented organisations and offender oriented organisations. At the end possible effects of victims-offender dialogue on victims are presented.

In the past decades the social intuitionist approach to moral psychology has eclipsed rationalist models. The social intutionist approach considers emotions to be a driving force in moral judgement, while reasoning most often functions as a post hoc rationalisation of the initial emotion. This article argues that the social intutionist approach is also applicable to the choice and preferences victims make and have while navigating the criminal justice system. This is illustrated through two recent evaluations of victims experiences in the Netherlands: an evaluation of the Dutch victim-offender encounters and the oral and written Victim Impact Statements (VIS). It is shown that participation in the former programme is a function of low emotional impact, while participants in the VIS-schemes present with high levels of anxiety and anger, and exhibit signs of possible posttraumatic disorder. The implications of these findings are discussed and framed in terms of the social intuitionist model of moral psychology.

This article sketches some important tendencies in the attention for victims of crime, including in supranational regulation, with regard to the position of the offender and possibilities for restorative justice. The evaluation of victim policy in Belgium offers a view on this topic: victims have certain expectations towards the justice system and pose questions with regard to the offender. A third issue regards the place of restoration within the whole range of consequences of crime for victims: what is the meaning of ‘harm’ and what is the content of ‘restoration’ for victims? A last topic considers the openness of victim assistance programmes with regard to the offender dimension and possibilities of restorative justice. This article thus evaluates the possible link between victim assistance and restorative justice.

The position of victims of crime has shown marked improvement over the past 30 years. The rise of the victim has been associated with the growth of a unified ‘victim movement’; a social movement that strives to improve the position of victims of crime. However, it is questionable whether the victim movement should be viewed as a unitary phenomenon. Instead of one movement, there appear to be a number of victim movements. There are differences between the victim advocates in the United States, Victim Support in Europe, the violence against women movement and proponents of restorative justice.. In this article, reasons for these differences are sought in victim-endogenous factors: differences in victims’ characteristics and the idealtypes employed by the different movements are an important explanation for the divergent development in organisations representing victims interests, which in turn influences their policy preferences. It is argued that advocates of restorative justice would benefit from understanding both the reality and the distortion involved in the idealtypes, including their own. This would allow proponents of restorative justice to adapt their practices in a manner that is both suitable and convincing to the representative and target group of the different victim movements.

In deze kroniek worden in het kort de belangrijkste ontwikkelingen in de jurisprudentie in de jaren 2010 en 2011 besproken. Als nieuwe ontwikkelingen zijn onder meer te noemen beschikkingen in deelgeschillen en uitspraken op het gebied van de Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens. Er wordt onder meer ingegaan op uitspraken op het gebied van integriteitschade, de aansprakelijkheid van de hulpverlener door gebruikmaking van een gebrekkige hulpzaak, onrechtmatige uitlatingen over zorgverleners op internet en de causale toerekening, waarbij aan de orde is of deze al dan niet wordt doorbroken door het feit dat de patiënt zelf in de gelegenheid is de schade te voorkomen.

Wob-verzoek; suïcideverslag; belang IGZ; controle en toezicht; bescherming persoonlijke levenssfeer na overlijden.

In Vrijheid van discriminerende uitingen? De zaak Wilders bespreekt C.W. Maris het lopende strafproces tegen de Nederlandse politicus Geert Wilders vanuit het rechtsfilosofische schadebeginsel. Wilders is beschuldigd van beledigen en aanzetten tot discriminatie van moslims. Wilders zelf beroept zich op uitingsvrijheid. Volgens de auteur is Wilders’ beeld van de islam bezijden de waarheid. Niettemin verleent het schadebeginsel in dit geval voorrang aan de vrijheid van meningsuiting boven het recht om niet te worden gediscrimineerd. Aanstoot of belediging is onvoldoende reden voor een strafrechtelijk verbod. Voor zover er schade dreigt, kan die beter worden beperkt door tegenargumenten dan door een verbod.

De Hoge Raad heeft in het arrest van 10 april 2009, NJ 2009/386 (Philip Morris/B) bepaald dat, indien de nabestaande betaald werk opgeeft teneinde zorgtaken te verrichten, de nabestaande in beginsel recht heeft op vergoeding van zijn of haar gehele inkomensschade.

In the recover phase following every disaster or crisis, the challenges are plenty. Government agencies and other organizations and individuals have to deal with activities ranging from medical care for victims, to judicial procedures and environmental cleaning. Religious organizations have important added value in providing spiritual and social care. They might provide necessary information to victims and others who are directly or indirectly affected by a crisis. This is something that needs to be recognized in both planning and recovery activities by local government. A correct diagnose of the recovery phase must include an analysis of the affected groups and the necessary stakeholders.

The government in the Netherlands struggles with the position of religion in public meetings. There is a lack of balance between a secularized vision on religion and the right of religious groups to show their feelings about God. Three national memorial services the last two years illustrate this, they were related to a crash of the Turkish Boeing 737 (2009), an incident at the birthday of Queen Beatrix (2009), and the crash of an airplane in Tripoli (2010). The Dutch government honours the victims in public meetings, but religion is supposed to be invisible. This should change in those circumstances that victims and their families do have specific religious feelings.

De kroniek geeft een overzicht van de bestuursrechtelijke uitspraken op het gebied van het gezondheidsrecht in de periode oktober 2009 tot en met januari 2011. Naast gebruikelijke onderwerpen zoals de begrippen ‘besluit’ en ‘bestuursorgaan’, komen ook onderwerpen als de bestuurlijke lus en de bewijsfuik aan bod. Aandacht verdient in ieder geval de uitspraak waarin gegevens van ziekenhuizen voor het eerst worden aangemerkt als bedrijfs- en fabricagegegevens. Als deze lijn wordt gevolgd zal de werking van de Wob kunnen worden beperkt. Ook interessant zijn de door de ombudsman geformuleerde aanwijzingen voor een duidelijke en begrijpelijke beslissing.

This article gives a complete and detailed overview of research evaluations and outcomes of restorative justice projects in the Netherlands over the past decades. It involves developments where clearly restorative justice inspiration was visible. The author describes restorative practices with juveniles and the so-called project ‘Herstelbemiddeling’ (restorative mediation) that started in the nineties. Most evaluations had positive outcomes, but nevertheless there was no continuation from the political side. The author also examines the introduction of the country wide ‘victim-offender conversations’ which are carried out by the national victim support organization. Although this choice is justified because of the vulnerability of some victims and the chance of revictimisation, the author questions if victim organizations can really - in the best interests of the victims – turn away from problems related to the (hardened) treatment of offenders. Victim-offender conversations are to be respected and to be continued, but they cannot be seen as a restorative justice practice.

Vanwege patiëntveiligheid wordt onderzoek gedaan naar videoregistratie in de operatiekamer. Het gaat daarbij om de ontwikkeling van een Digital Operation Room Assistant. Door de sectie gezondheidsrecht van het UMC Groningen is, in het kader van een NWO-project en in samenwerking met de TU Delft, onderzoek gedaan naar de juridische randvoorwaarden voor het gebruik van dergelijke videobeelden. Aandacht wordt besteed aan de in de Wbp gestelde eisen ten aanzien van kwaliteit en toelaatbaarheid van videobeelden. Bij het gebruik van videobeelden worden enkele situaties onderscheiden die leiden tot andere juridische gevolgen onder andere met betrekking tot informed consent, dossiervoering, bewaartermijn en vernietiging.