Visual research methods aren’t magic. Yet, they do work. In this article, different reasons and methods are described, based on the author’s own experiences as well as on the literature. Visual methods refer to the visual as a data source, employing visuals in the data collection or using visuals when presenting and expressing social scientific knowledge. The reasons to use visual methods can be divided into two broad categories. First, visual methods enhance the data and the data collection and second, they can facilitate the participation of and collaboration with research participants. Examples of visual methods are presented, such as the use of photographs in interviews as well as some dilemmas a researcher (similar to legal professionals) can face when employing them. Visual methods are still developing, and the author concludes that there’s still a lot to learn.

Op 13 augustus 2015 publiceerde de Federal Trade Commission een beknopt document met uitgangspunten voor de handhaving van ‘Section 5’ van de Federal Trade Commission Act. Het gaat hier om de handhaving van het verbod op, onder meer, ‘Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce’, een bepaling die deels, maar zeker niet volledig overlapt met Section 1 en 2 van de Sherman Act, de Amerikaanse versies van ons kartelverbod en misbruikverbod. Deze korte bijdrage schetst het ‘Statement of Enforcement Principles’ en werpt de vraag op of een ‘Europees Section 5’ aantrekkelijk zou zijn.

An ‘independent contractor’ working for a company in a subordinate relationship should be considered as a de facto employee. In such a situation, the company and its legal representatives can be held liable for ‘concealed work’ and be subject to criminal penalties.

The Danish Supreme Court recently affirmed that the transfer of a canteen contract to another operator following a tender process did not fall within the scope of the Danish Transfer of Undertakings Act.
The Danish Transfer of Undertakings Act applies to the transfer of an undertaking or part of an undertaking, meaning an economic entity which retains its identity. In the test of whether a transfer is a transfer within the meaning of the Act, an overall assessment of all facts surrounding the transfer must be made. This was the issue in this case before the Supreme Court.

Under Irish law, an employee claiming compensation for constructive dismissal bears a high burden of proof. Failure to exhaust the employer’s grievance procedure before bringing such a claim to court is generally a recipe for failure. However, a CEO who brought such a claim without first going through the grievance procedure was recently awarded record compensation of € 1.25 million.

If both the transferor and transferee are affiliated to one and the same mandatory industry-level pension fund, the transferee is liable vis-à-vis that pension fund for pension contributions (premiums) due but not paid to that fund prior to the date of transfer. A judgment to this effect, which was reported in EELC in 2013/35, was recently confirmed on appeal.

Austrian law permits the dismissal of an employee during parental leave only in cases where the employer cannot reasonably be expected to continue the contractual relationship. The colour of a hair ribbon does not justify the termination of a young father’s employment as a bus driver.

A day care provider, Estro Groep B.V., (‘Estro’) went into pre-arranged (‘pre-pack’) receivership. Immediately afterwards, a large part of its business was taken over by another day care provider, Smallsteps B.V. (‘Smallsteps’). The latter did not offer employment to all of Estro’s employees, taking the position that the takeover did not constitute the transfer of an undertaking. This position was based on the fact that Estro was in receivership at the time of the takeover. According to the Dutch law transposing the Acquired Rights Directive, such takeovers are exempted from the rules on transfers of undertakings. A union and five of the employees whom Smallsteps had not offered jobs, relying on the wording of Article 5(1) of the Directive (“insolvency proceedings which have been instituted with a view to the liquidation of the assets”), claimed that they had become Smallsteps employees. The court referred questions to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling.

In this replica study in adolescents (N=1,040) we analyse to what extent characteristics of the environment like the presence of provocation and monitoring of teachers are related to choosing a violent response in a school context. The study starts from a key hypothesis of Situational Action Theory (SAT) and uses a randomised scenario study that allows for randomisation of environmental stimuli, while taking into account individuals’ propensity to break rules (as measured by their moral beliefs and emotions and ability to exercise self-control). The results demonstrate that high propensity adolescents are very strongly triggered by scenario criminogeneity (the accumulation of absence of monitoring and presence of provocation), while low propensity individuals are to a higher degree situationally resistant. The findings are in line with one of the key ideas of SAT.

Newark Penn Station is the most frequented train station in New Jersey, United States. Two distinct groups occupy this public space. First are the commuters who travel by the trains to reach destinations for work or pleasure. Second are the transient who do not use the trains but instead remain in and around the station for various reasons, otherwise known as the ‘other.’ The latter population is closely monitored and controlled by law enforcement through a variety of written and unwritten laws and codes of conduct, which are based on broken windows theory and crime prevention through environment design (CPTED). The primary focus is how the ‘other’ seemingly navigates and occupies public space. Through ethnographic research, this paper reflects and reveals the ways in which the station is a living social organism that simultaneously marginalizes and incorporates those defined as the ‘other’ into this space. This complex and contradictory dynamic illustrates the interactions between public spaces and its occupiers and regulators.

This article is based on ethnographic research over recent years in eight Dutch police teams. It focuses on the othering process in which police officers define ‘crooks’ as the Other and chase, catch and arrest them. Catching crooks is perceived as an assignment as well as a game. Street cops construct detailed subcategories of the crook which influence their daily practices. They select crooks by recognition (the permanent suspects), by abnormalization (out of placeness) and by profiling (regardless of place). In addition to the discussion on ethnic profiling, we argue that profiling is a contextual practice. The contents of the profiles depend on the demographic characteristics of the district in which a police team operates. Interacting mediaframes of both the crook and the police reinforce the mutual caricatures and tense relationships.

The continuous integration of the Internet in societal daily life leads to an array of new communication methods, including the Darkweb. This hidden form of the Internet (which enables much more anonymity due to several encryption techniques) seems to be used for a lot of criminal enterprise. Also in the planning phase of crimes, the Darkweb seems to play an important role. Nevertheless, research on this phenomenon is quite scarce. In the present study, a sample of 198 threads (i.e. discussion topics) was analyzed via a quantitative content analysis, after which an exploratory study was conducted to highlight patterns and structures of communications on the Darkweb. The results show that different types of Darkweb users (e.g. sellers, rookie users, etc.) vary clearly in their communication activities and the crimes that they communicate about (e.g. malware, drugs).

Op 29 september 2015 wees het Hof Den Bosch arrest over afgeleide schade. In deze bijdrage gaan de auteurs in op de bredere casus. Eerst wordt de keuze voor de enquêteprocedure en de toepassing daarvan besproken. Vervolgens wordt het aspect van vennootschappelijke concurrentie behandeld, door vergelijking met het leerstuk van corporate opportunity. Tot slot komen het leerstuk van afgeleide schade en de daarvoor belangrijke vraag of een bestuurder de opzet heeft gehad om aandeelhouders te benadelen aan bod.