Those involved in a motor vehicle accident often have emotional needs that are not being met within the current framework of personal injury settlement. These needs include sharing one’s (side of the) story, getting in touch with the other person(s) involved and offering or receiving apologies. Following Nils Christie’s theory of ‘stolen’ conflicts, the fact that the people involved are often represented by lawyers or insurance companies is problematic because it alienates them from each other and it thwarts proper recovery. Incorporating restorative justice could offer a solution to this ‘theft’ of conflict, as it focuses on bringing all involved together to restore any of the harm done by concentrating on their needs. The central question to this dissertation is: how can restorative justice play a role in the sustainable resolution of conflicts after motor vehicle accidents so that the current insurance and liability system can better meet the immaterial needs of victims and perpetrators? Via several projects, the role of lawyers and insurance companies is studied. How beneficial or adversarial are their influences on victims and offenders? And can they incorporate restorative justice in their practice? The first publication is expected at the end of this year. |
Werk in uitvoering |
Herstelrecht op het terrein van verkeersongevallen. |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 2 2020 |
Trefwoorden | restorative justice, motor vehicle accidents, victimology, personal injury settlement |
Auteurs | Iris Becx MSc |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Werk in uitvoering |
The role of attitudes in the professional judicial decision-making progress: a work in progress |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 1 2020 |
Trefwoorden | Professional judicial decision-making process, Attitudes, Impartiality, Semi-structured interviews, Scenario-survey |
Auteurs | Mr. Elke Olthuis |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
In our daily decision-making processes, attitudes play an important role. An attitude is an evaluative judgement of a person, object or an issue on a scale of favorability. A large amount of research has been done on the role of attitudes in our daily decision-making processes. There is, however, a gap in empirical knowledge when it concerns the role of attitudes in the professional judicial decision-making process. It has been accepted that the professional judicial decision-making process has a subjective element, but this subjective element remains unexplained. Attitudes are inherently personal and subjective, and they can make our decision-making process easier. They can, however, also be the basis for biases and prejudices. Herein lies a potential risk, especially in the professional judicial decision-making process. If attitudes play a role in the decision-making process of judges there is a possibility that impartiality, one of the judiciary’s core professional values, might be unobtainable. To see whether attitudes play a role in the professional judicial decision-making process semi-structured interviews will be conducted among judges, who will also be asked to fill in a scenario survey. Hopefully the obtained data will lead to a start in filling this gap in empirical knowledge. |
Werk in uitvoering |
The alternative war on drugs: drug evictions and the (re)regulation of cannabis |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 3 2019 |
Trefwoorden | Drug eviction, Drug policy, Culture of Control, Empirical legal research |
Auteurs | L. Michelle Bruijn LLM Ph.D. |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
As a reaction to the perceived enforcement deficit of criminal law in the field of drug control, several countries implemented alternative regulatory strategies. One such strategy is the reregulating drugs, especially cannabis. Another strategy is the use of civil or administrative law to address drug-related crime. Especially the use of eviction to combat drug activities has become increasingly popular. |
Werk in uitvoering |
Law in action in strafzaken |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 1 2019 |
Trefwoorden | perceived procedural justice, fair process effect, perceived everyday discrimination, criminal defendants, empirical-legal research |
Auteurs | mr. Lisa Ansems |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
This PhD project uses a mixed method design to study perceived procedural justice among defendants in Dutch single-judge criminal cases. To find out whether defendants are concerned with perceived procedural justice and to get a better grasp on the concept, the first empirical project reviewed here is an interview study among defendants conducted in 2017. In this study, defendants were interviewed after their court hearings about perceived procedural justice during their court hearings. The second empirical project, which started in January 2019, zooms in on experiences of defendants with a non-western migration background. Using a questionnaire, I examine whether and how perceived everyday discrimination affects defendants’ perceptions of and reactions to procedural justice during their court hearings. I am currently designing a third empirical study, which entails a scenario experiment among people with a non-western migration background. I plan to manipulate the level of perceived procedural justice during a hypothetical court hearing to examine its influence on, for instance, people’s trust in judges, and again assess whether people’s reactions to perceived procedural justice differ depending on their levels of perceived everyday discrimination. At the end of my dissertation, I plan to connect the empirical findings to the legal domain by assessing possible normative implications. |
Werk in uitvoering |
Defensieve geneeskunde: werk in uitvoering |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 3 2018 |
Auteurs | Shosha Wiznitzer LLM |
Auteursinformatie |
Werk in uitvoering |
Marital disputes and divorce in Senegal: Women’s paths to justice in a pluralist landscape |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 1 2018 |
Auteurs | Annelien Bouland |
Auteursinformatie |
Praktijk |
Wat gebeurt er op de gang? Een kwalitatief empirisch onderzoek naar schikkingsonderhandelingen tijdens civielrechtelijke procedures |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 3 2017 |
Trefwoorden | Settlement negotiations, Distributive negotiations, Qualitative empirical research, Biases, Heuristics |
Auteurs | Mr. Lucas Lieverse |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
There is little known on settlement negotiations during civil lawsuits in the Netherlands. Settlement negotiations take place during a (suspension of the) public court hearing. The public hearing takes place in the majority of the civil lawsuits in the Netherlands. The qualitative empirical research I am carrying out, intents to give insight in these settlement negotiations and questions what lawyers actually do during these negotiations. The research intents to contribute to the effectiveness of settlement negotiations in the sense that (i) the number of settlements increases and of compulsory settlements decreases, (ii) the perceived fairness of procedure and outcome in settled cases increases, and (iii) the number of resolved underlying conflicts increases. |
Praktijk |
De bezwaarprocedure: Onderzoek naar verbanden tussen de inrichting van de procedure en de inhoudelijke kwaliteit van bezwaarbehandeling |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 2 2017 |
Trefwoorden | Dispute resolution procedures, Quality, Administrative law, Objection procedure, Professional users |
Auteurs | Marc Wever LLM |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
If someone disagrees with an administrative order, he or she has to lodge an objection with the administrative authority responsible for the order. Only after the administrative authority has fully reconsidered the contested order is the interested party allowed to seek redress with the administrative courts. Estimates are that around 2.6 million objections are filled each year, making the administrative objection procedure the most frequently used dispute resolution procedure in the Netherlands. Numerous variations can be found in the way administrative authorities handle objections. Does this affect how professional users evaluate its quality? And if so, how can this be explained? |
Praktijk |
De ‘governmentality’ van een lokaal prostitutieveld? |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 1 2017 |
Trefwoorden | Prostitution, Policy, Morality, Governing, Empirical research |
Auteurs | Eelco van Wijk Msc |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Many scholars interpreted the lifting of the ban on brothels in 2000 (often called the legalization of prostitution) in The Netherlands, as a sign that selling sex was no longer deemed morally objectionable. Governing prostitution thus became primarily a technical matter of government. A task that, for a large part, was delegated to municipalities. However, nearly two decades later, the debate surrounding prostitution (policy) is still characterized by its moral tone of voice, and we lack insight into the strategies and techniques deployed by local governments. This raises two important questions. First, what actually happens in legalized local prostitution markets? Extant research, focusses too much on (changes in) national policy, and too little on what key actors (such as municipalities) are actually doing in local prostitution markets. Second, what is the role of moral aspects? When local actors are studied, insufficient attention is paid to the influence of moral issues. My PhD research addresses these two questions, by looking at the relationship between moral beliefs surrounding prostitution and the way in which local governments attempt to stabilize or change the modus operandi of a local prostitution market. It develops a theoretical framework combining field theory and Foucauldian governmentality concepts, and tries to shed light on the broader theme of the relation between morality and governing in late modern times. |
Praktijk |
Aansprakelijkheidsverzekeringen: preventie door de verzekeraar en het effect op de bescherming van de verzekerde |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 2 2016 |
Trefwoorden | Liability insurance, Prevention, Protection of the insured, Knowledge |
Auteurs | Charlotte Henskens |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Liability insurances shift the financial risk of the loss of a damage from the person who is liable for the damage to the liability insurer. To avoid negligent behavior of the insured, the insurer provides different prevention tools in the insurance policy. The insurer will attach certain sanctions or rewards to certain behavior and certain circumstances in the general conditions of the insurance contract. This research raises the question of the effectiveness of these instruments. The hypothesis is that without knowledge of the insured of these sanctions or rewards, these sanctions and rewards will not form an additional incentive for careful behavior and they will have no preventive effect. Additionally, these prevention tools may undermine the protection of the insured. For this reason the legislature has limited the freedom of contract. This study examines the extent to which the legislature has limited the possibilities of the insurer to provide in prevention tools in de insurance policy. It assesses the extent to which the legislature may or may not succeed in its purpose to protect the insured, and on the other hand, where there are still possibilities for the insurer to fulfill its prevention task. |
Praktijk |
Zacht waar het kan, hard waar het moet? Casestudies naar handhaving in de sociale zekerheid |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 1 2016 |
Trefwoorden | responsive regulation, social security, enforcement, field research |
Auteurs | Paulien de Winter |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
The Dutch social security is mainly conducted by municipalities (social services), the Dutch Employment Insurance Agencies (UWV) and the Social Insurance Bank (SVB). In order to explore to what extent agents adjust their enforcement style, as stated in the responsive regulation approach (Ayres & Braithwaite), five case studies will be conducted; three studies at social services and two studies at Employment Insurance Agencies. |
Praktijk |
Discretie en feitenvaststelling in asielprocedures |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 1 2015 |
Trefwoorden | discretion, asylum procedure, uncertainty, fact-finding |
Auteurs | Ralph Severijns |
Auteursinformatie |
Praktijk |
Understanding knowledge sharing between judgesA quantitative analysis |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 2 2014 |
Trefwoorden | knowledge exchange, knowledge sharing behavior, knowledge management system, judicial knowledge |
Auteurs | Sandra Taal PhD |
SamenvattingAuteursinformatie |
Over the last two decades, there has been a growing interest in the development and implementation of knowledge management systems. In the judicial context, these knowledge management systems are designed to support judges in the decision-making process by providing them with the knowledge that they need in order to deal with doubts or uncertainties in complex cases. However, less attention has been given to the related process of knowledge sharing between judges. In order to optimally benefit from the knowledge available in the organization, this process should be better understood and acted upon. The aim of this research project is to gain a better insight into the interactive process of knowledge sharing between judges. To this end, a research model has been developed which will be quantitatively tested on the basis of survey responses from judges. |
Praktijk |
Civil Court Mediation with Chinese Characteristics?Lessons from Labor Disputes |
Tijdschrift | Recht der Werkelijkheid, Aflevering 1 2014 |
Auteurs | Yedan Li |
Auteursinformatie |