Tegen de achtergrond van de reeds aangekondigde integrale herziening en modernisering van de zedenmisdrijven in het Wetboek van Strafrecht en in relatie tot recente en in voorbereiding zijnde strafbaarstellingen op zedengebied brengt de auteur in deze bijdrage een aantal ‘zorgen om zeden’ voor het voetlicht. De auteur wil de wetgever daarmee handvatten aanreiken om de zedentitel inhoudelijk en systematisch tot een helder en werkbaar geheel om te vormen

The security landscape has changed rapidly. New or revived threats have emerged, such as terrorism and cybercrime, bringing new or revived fears and anxieties as well. Actors in security policy feel a need to address these fears, but do not know how. Can the criminological subdiscipline of fear of crime studies provide the knowledge and understanding that is needed? A quick scan of the state of the art in this research domain, gives two reasons why it cannot: (1) fear of crime studies have yielded much knowledge on operationalization, measurement and determinants of fear of crime, but far less in mechanisms, trends, effects and influenceability, whereas insight in the latter issues is what is mostly needed in security policy; and (2) fear of crime studies are still mainly focused on the ‘traditional’ fear of crime, while fear of new crimes and threats remains under-researched. A shift of focus in fear of crime studies is urgently needed.

For a century and a half, the Dutch police and the army cooperated in combating civil disturbances. It was common practice that soldiers were called from their barracks to assist in maintaining public order. However, to deploy the army against civilians raised fundamental questions about its legitimacy. As a result some Dutch police forces began implementing military tactics and using military equipment to do the job themselves. The high watermark of this development lies in the years between the two world wars, when revolution and civic unrest always seemed imminent. The post-war years were marked by the Cold War and fear of communist insurrection. Militarized units were always kept in reserve. Nowadays, the army still renders assistance, usually not ‘manu militari’, but on matters that require special expertise.

Like many other European countries the Netherlands experienced a major influx of refugees in the fall of 2015. A majority of the population supported providing shelter to the refugees, but not without worries and anxieties about the effects of that influx, which sometimes lead to limited, local forms of social unrest. A study was started to shed more light on the worries and fears that existed in the population, on the assumptions these were based upon and on whether these worries and fears could lead to social unrest on a larger scale. The study was explorative, based on an eclectic, multi methods approach. The findings show that worries and anxieties were not limited to those who were opposed to the influx of migrants, but existed among supporters as well. The worries and anxieties were of a diverse nature, on topics like security, livability, economics, perceived (in)justice and socio-cultural aspects of life. A clear, credible answer or policy from the government was missed. When compared to the findings of earlier studies on the influx of migrants, some worries and anxieties seemed closely connected to what might be expected, in other cases a distinct ‘disconnect’ was found. These could be understood however when distorting mechanisms were taken into consideration that have been described in studies of more general security perceptions. As the worries and anxieties on the influx of refugees resonated other existing worries, anxieties and fears in society, a ‘cocktail of concerns’ was created that, given the right trigger, could have led to social unrest on a larger scale.

Some overestimation of crime risk is likely, but that does not mean that risk perceptions are not adjusted in line with changes in actual crime risk. Based on time series data, we show that crime risk perceptions are strongly related to rates of victimization. The conventional wisdom that the drop in crime since the 1990s did not result in an adjustment in risk perceptions can be easily refuted. The much discussed crime drop goes together with a much less discussed fear drop.

What freedom of speech do religious leaders have when their religious speech discriminates others? Freedom of religion and freedom of expression may collide with the right to equality (including the principle of non-discrimination). Religious plurality and social polarization in Dutch society induce conflict between these fundamental rights.
This article reviews two legal cases where an imam and a minister were accused of discrimination of homosexuals. From this jurisprudence the authors deduce three principles in judicial decisions weighing freedom of religion and freedom of speech against equality rights: interpretative reluctance, cautiousness and the position of the religious leader.

Een beperking van onlineprijzen of onlineaanbod kan de concurrentie beperken. De auteurs bespreken of het aan banden leggen van onlineverkopen mededingingsrechtelijke overtredingen oplevert. Ook bespreken zij hoe juridisch moet worden gekeken naar (informatie)technologische toepassingen om sturing te geven aan onlinebezoekers.

In deze bijdrage betoogt de auteur dat swapdocumentatie en kredietdocumentatie beter op elkaar afgestemd zouden moeten worden. Zeker in het geval er in de kredietdocumentatie een 0% floor in de rentedefinitie is opgenomen en er een kans bestaat dat de variabele rente negatief wordt.