In recent years scientific interest in various aspects of prison climate has increased exponentially. At first, such research was being initiated and undertaken predominantly within Anglo-Saxon penology but, more recently, research into prison climate is also increasingly taking place elsewhere, including in the Netherlands and Belgium. In this article the authors offer an overview of Dutch and Belgian research on prison climate. They discuss the literature from two broad angles: first, the characteristics of prisons and incarcerated individuals that determine the quality of prison climate; and, second, research on the impact of prison climate on inmates themselves.

In this article Tom Daems and Bas van Stokkom reflect upon what it means to argue that an author or text is ‘significant’ and the role and function the study of classical or significant texts can have in our current times.

In this article Tom Daems and René van Swaaningen discuss work and life of the late Dutch historian Pieter Spierenburg. The article is based on an interview the authors conducted with Spierenburg in November 2018 as well as his published work and excerpts of an unpublished biography. The article discusses in particular themes related to his interest in, and contributions to, the history of crime and punishment, in particular Spierenburg’s path-breaking book The Spectacle of Suffering (1984), his relation to Norbert Elias and the Amsterdam School and his critique of Michel Foucault.

In this article Tom Daems and Bas van Stokkom discuss work and life of the Dutch social psychologist Hans Boutellier. The article is based on an interview the authors conducted with Boutellier in December 2018 as well as his published work. The article discusses in particular themes such as the morality of crime, the emancipation of victims, and processes of secularisation.