This article explores the relation between death, the fear and denial of it, and the appeal of mortuary rites attempting to transcend senses of mortality. It aims to show how our Own death, as a shamefull and solitary characteristic of modernity, has become a taboo and how it simultaneously continues to spur our imagination of the way Others die. Building on research in Suriname, it argues that both colonial compulsion and anthropological gazing have contributed to distorted and ambiguious attitudes toward death cross-culturally. As such, the article seeks to advance discussions on death and taboo as a perpetuum mobile of dread and everlasting enchantment.

Triggered by the recent Paris attacks the authors make an attempt to answer the question how liberal democracies can react to religious extremists that respond with violence to utterances they consider to be blasphemous. After a brief historical survey of the reactions to blasphemy in penal law and philosophy, the authors compare blasphemy laws and their relation to the freedom of speech in various European countries. Then they analyse the relevant case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the U.S. Supreme Court. In their conclusion the authors defend the position that liberal democracies should be cautious in order to prevent the principles of liberal democracy from being subverted by self-censorship induced by fear of extremism.

In this article several perspectives on studying taboos within social sciences are described. Originally, taboo, a concept that was already used within Polynesian societies early 1800, referred to food that was not allowed to eat. Anthropologists analyzed taboos especially in a functionalistic manner, as contributing to the maintenance of existing power balances within societies. These and other studies on taboos all illustrate the fact that taboos are very much a social construction and are very much time and place dependent. In contemporary western societies taboos are associated with ‘open secrets’ and ‘silencing’. Within criminology certain topics are considered taboo as a research object (e.g. explaining crime through ethnic, cultural or religious characteristics), while others claim that there are no criminological research taboos left.

A taboo serves the social order for it facilitates social control. This article will focus on taboos related to sexual contact by youngsters. The way authorities guard sexual taboos is indicative of the way authorities envision the organization of society. It is this organization through the control of youth and sex which will receive attention. In the classic study by Mary Douglas on pollution and taboo dirt is understood as ‘matter out of place’. The sexual teenager is an illustration of this ‘matter out of place’ because it is difficult to categorize sexual teenagers on the basis of asexual children and sexual adults as an organizing principle for society. In criminal law lewd conduct by youngsters refers to wrong sex at the wrong age. By criminalizing these sexual transgressions the proper place of youth and sex is once again restored. This is necessary for it will be argued that the interests of society are somewhat under pressure because of transgressions when it comes to children as asexual and when it comes to sex as something for within a relationship. The perpetrator of lewd conduct should be understood as a scapegoat reestablishing when and how sex should take place. By restoring the asexual child and the sexual relationship it is hoped sex and youngsters can once again offer some guidance in a social order lacking these clear markers.

This essay argues that the breaking of taboos is an effective means to increase one’s definition-power and discredit the establishment. But rhetorical warfare and satire may also turn into its opposite: strengthening fanaticism. First, the author discusses the controversy surrounding the cartoons of Charlie Hebdo and the militant pleas for maximum artistic freedom, articulated by Salman Rushdie and others. In the second part of this essay the author argues that advocates of an inviolable right to freedom of expression, including the right to insult, may create their own taboos. Within the tabloid press and the outrage industry this ‘right’ gets more aggressive functions. Finally, some ambiguities about political correctness and the racism-taboo are discussed.

In this article we focus on how tram drivers react when confronted with a situation of aggression in the tram. Their role in these situations has hardly been explored in recent Dutch studies on this topic. In our explorative research, which consisted of observation and interviews in The Hague, our aim is to gain the perspective of tram drivers on aggressive passengers. Through their eyes we describe a range of strategies which they use to restore public order. Our research shows that in order to understand the reaction of tram drivers a) this has to be placed in the sequential development of an aggressive interaction and b) this has to be related to the ways they give meaning to the aggression of passengers and their work context. Our research shows that there are two perspectives among tram drivers: a) a ‘business’ perspective, with an emphasis of tram drivers as employees who avoid risk situations and call for support in situations they cannot control and b) a personal perspective, in which tram drivers tend to follow more personal guidelines, in which masculinity plays a central role. Those who use the later perspective become more involved in violent and physical interactions.

Ever since the creation of silent movies, directors aim to shock the audience with explicit scenes of violence. Yet, little attention has been given to the evolution of horror movies. In order to create ‘monsters’, ‘dark locations’ and ‘explicit scenes of violence’ directors have to experiment with storylines and new techniques, if they want to shock the audience. The aim of this paper is to examine whether or not horror has become more violent (more extreme) throughout film history. Hence, we will discuss the historic evolution of horror movies in mainstream cinema (films that reached a large audience) and cult cinema (films which have a select, mostly fan based, audience).

Based on a new book edited by Michael Hviid Jacobsen The Poetics of Crime. Understanding and Researching Crime and Devience Through Creative Sources (Ashgate, 2014), Dina Siegel analyzes the ways in which social scientists can find inspiration in art, music, literature, photography and dance. She discusses how these fields can enrich criminological research by introducing new analytical instruments and skills and to discover new research fields, meanings and emotions in crime-related issues.

This article is based on ethnographical research in 24 crack houses in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. Crack houses were defined as the homes of crack users where crack is being sold and smoked together with other users. All crack houses were located in disadvantaged, multi-ethnic neighbourhoods. Both residents and visitors were men and women, middle-aged, of various ethnic origin and with a long history of hard drug use. In addition to economic benefits for residents (crack sales, getting crack for free from visitors) and sometimes also for visitors, crack houses predominantly serve as a safe haven for drug use and as a social meeting place. Two types of crack houses were found: dealing houses (with ‘home sellers’) and home circuits (divided into ‘fixers’ who arrange or facilitate that crack is available, and ‘users-for-free’, who allow that crack is sold or delivered and used in their apartment, in exchange for a bit of crack). To reduce the risk of discovery and closure, residents take various measures, but less if they are not a legal resident of the apartment. In comparison with the Anglo-Saxon literature about crack houses, there is less ethnic segregation, a less aggressive atmosphere and less involvement with prostitution.

In this interview, Lode Walgrave talks to John Braithwaite, one of the most cited white collar crime scholars and best known for his ‘reintegrative shaming’, which added the crucial moral-emotional and ethical dimensions to the body of work on crime and crime control. John Braithwaite tells about his major publications and developments in his intellectual endeavour: the role of shaming and its importance in restorative justice, dominion, responsive regulation, and also his recent project on peacebuilding. Braithwaite’s career and political involvement are discussed throughout the interview, as well as his critical view with regards to the fragmentation of social sciences (including criminology).

In this opinion piece the authors reflect upon the way in which applied research for law enforcement and safety management is valued within the prevailing academic culture. By drawing from the scholarship on public criminology, the authors introduce the democratic underlabourer as an important yet often undervalued and underrepresented figure capable to bridge potential gaps between academia and the practical field of law enforcement and safety management. By getting organized in the form of a guild, democratic underlabourers would increase their clout and visbility.

In this article, the questions why scientific misconduct has become a subject of criminological research and how scientific misconduct relates to a production-oriented academic culture are examined. It is argued that the current academic career path produces an anomic academic culture. The authors further examine the slippery notion of the term ‘scientific misconduct’ and conclude that questions about the prevalence or increase of scientific misconduct are hardly answerable. They also point at a number of undesirable side-effects of the emerging culture of distrust and control in academia, amongst which socially disengaged, highly predictable and little innovative research. They end with a plea to recapture a truly academic culture.

The Dutch sociologist and lawyer Kees Schuyt worked as scientific researcher and professor of sociology for the University of Leiden and University of Amsterdam. He has written about forty books and many articles about the welfare state, the philosophy of social science and the sociology of law. Between 2006 and 2014 he was chairman of The Netherlands Board on Research Integrity (LOWI). Recently he wrote the book Between fault and fraud. Integrity and dishonest behavior in scientific research. In this interview, Schuyt talks about the role of scientific integrity in his own career and specifically elaborates on dishonest behavior and scientific competition.