Criminal law is embedded in a specific view of man and the world. This thesis implies that a change of the view of man and the world leads necessarily to a change of criminal law. Since our view of man and the world is constantly changing, the same applies for our law governing wrongful conduct. In this article is described how our view of man and the world has changed through the ages (during pre-modernity and modernity) and what changes have occurred under the influence thereof. Given the limited size of this article, a macro-perspective is utilized. At the end of the article, the author advocates a new (trans-modern) view of man and the world and a new corresponding law governing wrongful conduct.

This essay describes the most important recent events in the field of American drugs legislation covering the liberalization of cannabis policies in several states as well as the reduction of penalties for the possession of crack at the federal level. These developments are situated in a broader context of a complicated and big country with plenty of room for extreme moral views and a very punitive justice policy that targets Blacks and Latino’s much more than the white middle class. The disproportionate impact of the punitive drugs legislation is an important driving force behind the trend towards liberalization, next to the high costs of maintaining an overcrowded prison system.

This article focuses on the activities and working methods of the Rotterdam social aid agency Bureau Frontlijn. It is based on the personal views and experiences of the author, Bureau Frontlijn director Barend Rombout, a former policeman who switched to social work in the disadvantaged districts more than ten years ago. The teaching of skills, coaching and training are key concepts in the work of Bureau Frontlijn. Many people suffering from a crisis because of unemployment, divorce, homelessness or early pregnancy are not adequately helped by state institutions, but instead get entangled in all kinds of bureaucratic procedures. What is needed in social aid is a more comprehensive and tailor-made approach. Even though individual responsibility is important, society has a moral obligation to protect the less privileged, because many of them have been in a disadvantaged situation since their birth or even earlier.

The Dutch Code of Criminal Procedure and the related guidelines of the College of Procurators-General are for all sorts of historical and ideological reasons heavily restrictive when it comes to the use of cooperative witnesses in criminal proceedings. What strikes most is that even in very serious cases it is not possible to grant a witness complete or partial immunity in exchange for his important cooperation. This contribution describes the problems arising sometimes in criminal cases wherein prosecutors, despite the existing narrow framework, make a deal with such a witness. The article outlines not only the historical and international background of the use of cooperative witnesses, but also its contemporary legal framework in the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany. The outcome of this comparative exercise is that at least the current legal provisions should be evaluated and that this evaluation should take into account the system and experiences in other countries as well as the problems of serious crime in the Netherlands and the leniency policies that govern the efforts to contain serious white collar crime like e.g. cartels.

What does a religious perspective imply for the justification of the state imposing punishment on perpetrators of criminal offences under criminal law? As religion is experiencing a revival, it is not a strange idea to examine what a religious perspective can teach us in relation to criminal law. What religious fundamentalism and conservatism have to offer in this respect seems quite clear, namely retributive action by the state, as God's representative on earth, against conduct contrary to the dogmas of the Holy Scriptures. Nevertheless, research shows that conventional believers also often recognize the value of forgiveness and reconciliation. What is not clear, however, is what mysticism has to offer in relation to criminal law. In contradiction to conventional criminal law, from a mystical perspective there is no call for intentional infliction of pain in responding to crime. To avenge evil with evil is dismissed for both moral and practical reasons. Encouraging the spiritual awakening of man forms the alfa and omega of a mystical approach to crime.

Considerable differences in tax and excise levels since the Belgium independence in 1830 gave rise to large scale smuggling between the Dutch border province Noord-Brabant en Belgium. The smuggling history can be divided in six periods. Salt was the most important contraband in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. During the First World War a lot of food was smuggled from the Netherlands to Belgium. During the crisis years in the 1930s unemployed people used to supplement their scarce income through smuggling. Belgian tobacco was the most important contraband during the Second World War. After the war ten thousands of Dutch occasional smugglers illegally fetched consumer and luxury goods in Belgium. In the 1950s and 1960s millions of kilo's of Dutch butter were smuggled to Belgium. The smuggling business gradually came into the hands of professional criminal gangs. In the second half of the 1960s the smugglers switched to the illegal distilling of alcohol. Many years later these would evolve into labs for the production of chemical drugs.