The introduction in the Netherlands of the SOV measure in 2001, followed by the ISD Order in 2004, opened the opportunity for the courts to incarcerate systematic offenders, mostly addicts, for a period of two years. During the period of imprisonment convicted are offered various programs to kick their habits and tackle their other problems. The article assesses the social costs and benefits of the SOV/ISD measure. The analysis takes account of the improvement in general health and productivity of the participants, and models the crime reduction effects through special prevention, incapacitation and general deterrence. Substituting results from the first effectiveness study of the SOV program, which by the way only covers one follow-up year, it is calculated that the SOV/ISD measure may yield a positive net result of as much as € 4 million per participant.

The Act introducing the Institution for Persistent Offenders Committal Order (ISD Order) took effect on 1 October 2004. The origins of the ISD Order are in safety policy. The order had a strong focus on imprisonment of persistent offenders. It can be seen as an exponent of the risk-oriented attitude towards safety, which has been predominant in recent years. At the start treatment of persistent offenders was of secundary importance and was only available for those who were motivated. But the ISD measure has had to deal with major problems in practice. The imprisoned ISD population proved to be one with complex problems like addiction, psychiatric illnesses and sometimes low intellectual abilities. The ISD institutions are ill-equipped for handling these people. The problems led to a slightly different attitude which is more oriented towards resocialization. Improvements are going on now, a process facilitated by a considerably improved co-operation between agencies around the ISD.

In the years 2000-2003 crime on Curaçao seemed to be going out of control and the economy was virtually stagnant with low growth and high unemployment. This situation has changed significantly since 2005. The author shows that a targeted approach by the authorities pushed back major crime problems like the smuggling of cocaine on passenger flights, armed robberies and homicides. However only a permanent effort can guarantee the continuation of this success. Corruption and nepotism are still vibrant, but mainly concern individuals, not institutions as a whole, while the judiciary actively prosecutes corrupt officials. In the long run not only repression, but preventive measures are needed as well. A major cause of corruption and nepotism is the small scale of island life, in combination with economic protectionism and state ownership of companies. Structural adjustments in economic institutions and policy in recent years heralded the return of economic growth and employment. More adjustments in economic policy and institutions could further reduce incentives for corruption; these might also lead to the opening up of Curaçao's rigid labour markets for the many unemployed youngsters. A more autonomous Curaçao faces serious challenges, but the island's record so far gives no reason for despondency.

In 1954 the Statute of the Kingdom of the Netherlands came into force. This document can be seen as an internal Treaty between the Netherlands (as a country in Europe) and its former colonies. Nowadays three countries are (internal) partners in the Kingdom of the Netherlands: the Netherlands, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. In 2005 new negotiations have begun for a new (internal) structure of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands Antilles will cease to be a country in the Kingdom and will be divided into two new countries Curaçao and Sint Maarten. The other remaining (small) islands Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba will be part of the territory of the Netherlands as specific judicial bodies as meant in article 134 Dutch Constitution. A huge diplomatic and judicial procedure has started. Although it is not certain yet, in 2009 it looks as though these plans and procedures will be realized in the very near future.

By the end of 2007, the world’s urban population had outnumbered the amount of people living in rural areas. Urbanization is expected to increase strongly in the developing world over the coming years, most of it through informal ways of accessing land and housing. In the initiatives of governments and donor organizations to deal with these developments, the concept of tenure security features increasingly prominently. It is inter alia expected to encourage investment in housing improvement, facilitate access to public services such as gas, water and electricity and also to make formal credit available. There is, however, no consensus as to what tenure security exactly means or how it is to be established. In the present paper, development policy based on establishing tenure security through land titling is critically examined and with the emphasis on urban informality in Latin America, an alternative concept of tenure security is proposed.

Like surfers, legislators … who wish to change everyday social norms must wait for signs of a rising cultural support, catching it at just the right time... (Kagan and Skolnick 1993: 85) The empirical study of the relation between the way a law comes into being and its effectiveness in practice is an underdeveloped subject in the sociology of law. In this article this relation is studied with respect to smoking bans in the Netherlands. The focus is on private companies in general, with special attention for Dutch cafés, bars, hotels and restaurants (where such a ban was recently introduced). Dutch smoking bans in private establishments were only enacted after the government was convinced of public support and after a period of selfregulation. This proved to be a good preparation. The general picture of the relation between the emergence and the effectiveness of smoking bans in Dutch hotels, restaurants etc. is much the same. However, there is one sector - bars, pubs and the like – in which the smoking ban has encountered problems. In this sector a fourth of the establishments refuse to comply. A question addressed in this article is whether the legislator acted too precipitously with respect to this sector. This is obviously the case: there is less public support for smoking bans in such establishments and there had not been a preparatory period of selfregulation.

There is a natural alliance between the ambitions of prison chaplaincy and those of restorative justice in the sense that in both approaches (coping with) responsibility and guilt by offenders are important issues and mechanisms at the same time. Both share a relational concept of crime, consider the evil deed as occasion to start a dialogue to examine responsibility, stress the importance of process and bi-lateral partiality with both the victim and the offender. Coping with guilt and making it productive requires that communication with the offender reaches the deeper and more intimate levels of giving meaning to the criminal offence committed, self, others, past and future. For this communication the context should be open and fundamentally loving in a Christian sense, leading the way to a liberation from guilt once it is thoroughly known and accepted. At that point guilt can be transformed into a constructive moral impetus in human relations.

Er bestaan in verhoudingen tussen een burger en de overheid drie vormen van doorwerking van het publiekrecht in het privaatrecht. De eerste vorm van doorwerking hangt samen met de rechtsmachtverdeling tussen de burgerlijke rechter en de bestuursrechter. De tweede vorm van doorwerking hangt samen met de voorrang van publiekrechtelijke normen in het privaatrecht. Deze voorrang kan op twee manieren worden bereikt. Het is mogelijk dat publiekrechtelijke normen op onaanvaardbare wijze worden doorkruist indien gebruik gemaakt wordt van een privaatrechtelijke bevoegdheid. Een andere wijze waarop deze voorrang kan worden bewerkstelligd is het opnemen van een regeling in het publiekrecht van materie die ook in het BW is geregeld. De derde vorm van doorwerking betreft de doorwerking van publiekrechtelijke regels via open normen in het privaatrecht. Met het oog op de toekomst rijst de vraag welke van deze drie vormen van doorwerking in de toekomst zullen blijven bestaan en welke het meest prominent zullen worden.

How to understand the disintegration of the Dutch Caribbean? The Kingdom of the Netherlands comprising three countries - the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba - will be reordered. The Netherlands Antilles will cease to exist as a separate country. Curaçao and Sint Maarten will acquire country status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, just as Aruba did in 1986, though theirs will be of a different status and with less autonomy. The islands Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, the so-called BES islands, will be integrated into the Netherlands as public authorities (openbare lichamen); as such the BES islands will be administered by the Netherlands while retaining local government functions (just as municipalities in the Netherlands).
This article outlines the history behind these changes and the factors that are at play. However improbable the Dutch Caribbean hypothesis, the Kingdom facilitates a connection of these islands with the international world. Against all odds and populist opponents, the Dutch Caribbean is a challenge to square the circle, a complex pact, impossible to balance, which will never come to a definitive conclusion.

This article focuses on the current measure for persistent offenders (ISD-measure), by taking into account three equivalent penal sanctions that have been developed in the Netherlands from 1886 onwards. First, the penalty of a labour colony for vagrants and the like for three years at most. Second, the measure to keep the habitual offenders in additional, preventive custody for five to ten years. Finally, the measure of two-year detention for drug addicted offenders. In the article it is argued that in spite of the differences in (judicial) elaboration, all three former existing sanctions have the same legitimating fundamental principle as the ISD-measure. That is, the notion that certain offenders are a danger to society, due to their persistent criminality and nuisance causing lifestyle. The primary objective of all these penal sanctions is therefore a long term protection of society from this danger. In this sense, the ISD-measure makes clear that present state-policy is above all one of sheer deprivation of freedom.