Rechters worden met nieuwe vragen geconfronteerd. Dit geldt bijvoorbeeld voor de vraag of een wensmoeder in geval van draagmoederschap recht heeft op zwangerschaps- en bevallingsverlof terwijl ze zelf niet zwanger is geweest. De meningen van twee advocaten-generaal verschillen over de betekenis van het Unierecht in dit verband. Hun opinies leveren interessante gezichtspunten. Het Hof van Justitie kiest een voorzichtige benadering.
HvJ EU 18 maart 2014, zaak C-167/12, C.D./S.T, n.n.g. en HvJ EU 18 maart 2014, zaak C-363/12, Z./A Government Department, The Board of management of a community school, n.n.g

Het stelsel van langdurige zorg wordt ingrijpend hervormd. Een van de onderdelen van de hervorming is de vervanging van de Algemene Wet Bijzondere Ziektekosten (hierna: AWBZ) door de Wet langdurige zorg (hierna: Wlz). Een belangrijk verschil tussen de AWBZ en de Wlz betreft de doelgroep: alleen mensen met een zware, langdurige zorgvraag hebben aanspraak op Wlz-zorg. Op het gebied van verzekerde prestaties, leveringsvormen en verwezenlijking van verzekerde prestaties bestaan veel overeenkomsten tussen de AWBZ en de Wlz.

Het Europees Hof voor de Rechten van de Mens (EHRM of Hof) heeft in het verslagjaar 2013-2014 een groot aantal voor het gezondheidsrecht interessante uitspraken gedaan. Het Hof heeft zich onder meer uitgelaten over de inzagebevoegdheid van een toezichthouder in patiëntendossiers, de (on)redelijkheid van een absolute verjaringstermijn bij letselschadezaken, de bevoegdheid van een lokale overheid om een zorgindicatie naar beneden bij te stellen en het onderscheid tussen het vrijwillig weigeren van zorg en het nalaten goede zorg te bieden. En op de valreep van het zittingsjaar nam het Hof nog een voorlopige maatregel, waardoor het besluit tot staking van de voedsel- en vochttoediening aan een patiënt zonder levensperspectieven niet ten uitvoer kon worden gebracht. Dit en andere hieronder te bespreken onderwerpen zijn ook in Nederland actueel.

For several years the Netherlands has been facing group violence around football matches and other recreational events. Offenders involved may be characterized as notorious troublemakers, incidental offenders or ‘new hooligans’. Notorious troublemakers and new hooligans actively look for risky situations. Their behavior is related to both contextual factors and individual predispositions. In contrast incidental offenders get involved in public disorder only due to a combination of circumstances. (Individual) disruptive behavior during public disorder therefore has different underlying causes. A combination of a person-centered approach, early identification of potential notorious troublemakers and situational prevention measures are important pillars for future policy and police practice.

A substantial number of children are confronted with the detention of their mothers. Empirical research shows that these children’s well-being is seriously affected, although no study has been able to assess whether a mother’s detention as such causes long-term damage. On the basis of children’s interests, this article defends the principle that mothers who are actively involved in raising their children should not receive a prison sentence but an alternative punishment, unless continuing care is detrimental to the children or if the legal order or interests of society and its citizens would be disproportionally threatened. The article ends with several practical implications.

The Roma and Sinti (formerly called gypsies) have a language of their own called Romani or Romanes. The language has been present in the Netherlands since 1420, and the first documentation from our country dates from the 1500s. Linguists have established that the language is a continuation of Indian languages. The dialects of Romani from all corners of Europe also show the clear unity of the language. It is not – as sometimes supposed – a secret jargon. After centuries of neglect or downright oppression of the people and their language, Romani is now recognized at the national and European levels. This also led to an increasing use of a written language, used for all genres, from literature to cookbooks and political texts. Despite having been spoken beside other languages for over a millennium, its vitality is higher than for all of the more recent immigrant languages in the Netherlands.

This article focuses on ‘culture’ as a concept currently dominating the approach towards Roma and Sinti, in policies and public opinion in the Netherlands and probably in Europe too. The author argues that a culture-sensitive approach is useful indeed, but a fixation on culture leads into a dead end street – especially in the static way in which it is (implicitly) conceptualised. Explaining some traditional Roma habits and values, the author describes examples of everyday life in Roman communities, as well as some lively debates among Roma and Sinti insiders. It is important that the complexity and dynamics of Roma culture are recognised and that outsiders stop defining what Roma culture ‘is’. Instead, recognising the differences between communities as well as the reality of changing norms and values will provide a breeding ground for finding a healthy balance between authenticity and adjustment.

Twee jaar geleden is de Wet modernisering instrumentarium geluidbeleid, geluidproductieplafonds in werking getreden. Daarbij is de Wet geluidhinder (Wgh) gewijzigd en hoofdstuk 11 Geluid aan de Wet milieubeheer (Wm) toegevoegd. Dit geheel aan regelgeving wordt aangeduid als SWUNG-1 (Samen Werken aan de Uitvoering van Nieuw Geluidbeleid, deel 1). Daarbij zijn geluidproductieplafonds ingevoerd in de Wm, de regels over geluidsbelastingkaarten en actieplannen van de Wgh overgeheveld naar de Wm en is de Wgh vereenvoudigd. Het is de eerste stap naar volledige integratie van de Wgh in de Wm. Dit artikel bevat een overzicht van de meest opvallende SWUNG-1-uitspraken van de afgelopen twee jaar.

Het onderhavige artikel gaat over de uitleg van uiterste wilsbeschikkingen. Aan de hand van enkele recente uitspraken wordt inzicht geboden in de vraag wanneer een zuiver taalkundige uitleg van een uiterste wilsbeschikking wel of niet volstaat.

For the occasion of the 40 ^th anniversary of the Netherlands’ Society of Criminology the author has analysed the Society’s archive and related the development of this professional organisation to the development of Dutch criminology in the period between 1974 and 2014. He distinguishes five turning points in this respect: between 1965 and 1974 we witnessed the emancipation of criminology as an autonomous discipline; the period 1978-1985 is characterised by a downfall of criminology at the universities; between 1992 and 1995 a period of restoration started, that is characterised by a focus on criminology’s policy-relevance; from 1999 to 2010 we can witness a recovery, in which academic criminology raised like a phoenix from its ashes; and from that time on we see the discipline broadening up again, in which the dominance of positivist research agendas is countered by a cultural criminology and a more critical attitude towards the production-oriented research policy in general. The bottom line is that the Society followed these trends imperceptibly: it was active when criminology did well and was ‘in rest’ when it did not. The article concludes with the question whether the Society has an active role to play in the public debate about the role of science and crime and punishment.

The quality of the relationship between boys and group workers in a correctional youth facility determines a part of the success of their incarceration. In a Q-study is examined what incarcerated boys consider as important in (the interaction with) group workers. There are four preferences discerned: anxious & willingly; rebellious & defensive; autonomous & indifferent; dependent & approachable. The needs in dealing with group workers of these four differ. Understanding and awareness of these preferences can provide tools for the treatment of boys in a correctional facility. It can enlarge the opportunity for a good relationship and the boys’ readiness to change.

Using officially registered conviction history data, this study examines the criminal careers of 601 members of Dutch outlaw motorcycle gangs, identified as such by the Dutch police. We find that the average 1% er in our sample is a 44-year-old, Dutch-born male. The large majority of these 1% ers have been convicted for a crime at least once. One in four convicted 1% ers can be classified as a chronic offender accumulating over ten convictions from age 12 until 2013. The large majority of 1% ers experiences an adult onset of their officially registered criminal career, with almost half acquiring their first conviction when they are aged 30 or older, challenging the generality of criminology's accepted conclusions about criminal career development.

In this feature authors review recently published books on subjects of interest to readers of Recht der Werkelijkheid.

Since Islam stands for a total way of life, it also includes a vision on crime and punishment. According to several (Muslim)scholars the Sharia contains not so much a message of revenge and retribution but rather one of compassion, forgiveness and mercy. Much depends on which sections of the holy sources of Islam are read and subsequently how these sections are interpreted. However, fact is that – in the context of quite a number of criminal offences – Islamic criminal law gives room for restorative practices. These practices prove to be more beneficial with regard to the realization of remorse, forgiveness and reconciliation than the regular criminal process. Since restorative practices form an intrinsic part of (pre-modern) Islamic criminal law and since more and more initiatives are being developed nowadays to incorporate such practices in (modern) Western criminal law, it is of fundamental importance to take note of Islamic criminal law. Before focusing in this contribution on the role of restorative practices, remorse and forgiveness in Islamic criminal law, first the position of victims in criminal law under influence of Islam and Christianity will be discussed on the basis of the ideas of the Dutch victimologist Jan van Dijk. Furthermore, attention will be paid to the decline of mysticism in Islam and to the possible consequences and risks thereof – also for the role of restorative practices, remorse and forgiveness in Islamic criminal law.