Sinds de invoering van het Burgerlijk Wetboek in 1838 heeft men herhaaldelijk getracht de gronden voor echtscheiding te verruimen. Hoewel deze gronden uiteindelijk pas verruimd werden in 1971, werd de tot die tijd bestaande situatie, waarbij echtscheiding slechts op vier gronden mogelijk was en echtscheiding met wederzijds goedvinden verboden was, als onwenselijk beschouwd. Dit gevoelen werd nog sterker na het arrest van de Hoge Raad uit 1883, de zogenaamde 'Groote Leugen'. Teneinde een einde te maken aan deze 'Groote Leugen' en in een poging het Nederlandse echtscheidingsrecht meer in lijn te brengen met het Duitse recht, heeft de Nederlandse secretaris-generaal voor Justitie, J.J. Schrieke, tussen 1942 en 1944 twee wijzigingsvoorstellen voorgelegd aan de Duitse autoriteiten welke destijds Nederland bezet hielden. Dit artikel analyseert beide wijzigingsvoorstellen en probeert een antwoord te geven op de vraag in hoeverre deze voorstellen het resultaat waren van een mogelijke invloed van het Nationaal Socialisme.
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Since the introduction of the Civil Code in 1838 one has repeatedly tried to extend the grounds for divorce. Although the grounds for divorce were not extended before 1971, the then existing situation, with only four grounds for divorce and a prohibition of divorce with mutual consent, was considered undesirable This sentiment became even stronger after the judgment of the Dutch Supreme Court of 1883, which became known as the 'Big Lie'. In order to stop this 'Big Lie' and in an attempt to bring Dutch divorce law more in line with German divorce law, the Dutch secretary-general of Justice, J.J. Schrieke, has presented the German authorities, which then occupied the Netherlands, with two draft revisions between 1942 and 1944. This article analyses both drafts and tries to answer the question to what extent these drafts were the result of a possible influence of National Socialism. This article is a summary of a part of the most important conclusions of the dissertation of the author, titled: 'National Socialist Family Law. The influence of National Socialism on marriage and divorce law in Germany and the Netherlands' defended at Maastricht University on 8 November 2012. A commercial edition of the dissertation is forthcoming.

In this article, the Roman perspective on the relations between the Roman imperial cult and monotheistic movements in the same period will be investigated. In modern scholarship, this Roman point of view has been underrepresented. This article will aim to create a better understanding of the religious conflicts that arose between ca. 44 B.C.E. and 313 C.E and serve as an example for attempting to understand the ‘alien’ side in religious conflict. This article will conclude that Roman religion has to be seen in the context of imperial politics to explain not only the conflicts between the Roman state, Jews and Christians, but also the rise of the imperial cult.

Een moordamendement is een paradox: als in een parlement een meerderheid is voor een wetsvoorstel, terwijl een geamendeerd wetsvoorstel het Staatsblad nooit zal bereiken, waarom zou een meerderheid dan voor het amendement stemmen? Strategisch stemgedrag kan een moordamendement altijd voorkomen. Onjuiste verwachtingen over de haalbaarheid van een geamendeerd wetsvoorstel kunnen er echter toe leiden dat er niet strategisch wordt gestemd. Ook kan het gebeuren dat een politicus denkt dat hij een strategische stem tegenover zijn achterban niet zal kunnen uitleggen. In dit artikel komen onder andere voorbeelden aan de orde over abortus en over de gewetensbezwaarde trouwambtenaar, onderwerpen die heel gevoelig liggen bij de kiezer en waarover strategisch stemmen dus geen optie is voor een volksvertegenwoordiger.

The distance between the public and the judiciary takes two forms: a punitivity gap and an accessibility gap. This article discusses both types of gap and elaborates on the issue of whether the existence of these gaps influences confidence in the judiciary. From the literature, it appears that the public is generally of the opinion that courts sentence too leniently. However, experiments show that when citizens receive information on a specific case, they become less punitive. Information provision may also help to bridge an accessibility gap, as does actual citizen involvement in the administration of justice. The relation between the gaps discussed and confidence in the judiciary is not clear as yet. The article discusses methods generally used to assess confidence and suggests that confidence may be increased by a reduction of the two gaps.

This article describes the long decline of crime rates in New York, as analysed by Franklin Zimring in his book The city that became safe (2012). The author discusses and analyses the processes involved in ‘lesson drawing’ and the ‘policy transfer’ from New York to the Netherlands. Issues that are further addressed include the opportunities of prevention and the enforcement of ‘hot crimes’.

This article focuses on the question whether Dutch policy makers and researchers ought to look more often to Scandinavia for inspiration and less to the West (UK and USA). Scandinavian countries are also influenced by Anglo-American ideas about crime and justice, but at the same time the number of incarcerated persons has not changed dramatically while recidivism rates are low. Dutch policy makers and researcher do sometimes look at initiatives and practices in Scandinavian countries, most often Sweden. Dutch society shares many similarities with the Scandinavian welfare states and therefore it should be natural – according to the author – to benefit more often from Scandinavian experiences. Some suggestions are discussed in the article.

Conferencing is a restorative justice practice which has started developing quite consistently since the 1990s, in majority in Anglophone countries such as New Zealand, Australia, the USA, Canada or the UK and in particular with consistently promising results for juvenile justice in Northern Ireland. Some continental European, Latin American and African countries are also starting to introduce this alternative to traditional criminal justice, especially in the case of juvenile justice, with some equally promising results. This article presents up-to-date information about the state of conferencing in the world and discusses some of the major conclusions that have come out of a European research project and book.

The number of Internet users who reported they have come into contact with cybercrime is substantial. This article examines three forms of cybercrime, namely: hacking, cyber stalking and cyber threats. Because cybercrime is relatively extensive in the life of Dutch citizens, it is important to gain insight into factors that influence victimization. By means of a secondary analysis of data from the first Dutch national cybercrime victim survey (N=9,161), it is assessed to which extend online behaviours affect victimization. In particular, online behaviours involving the use of communication applications affect victimization of the three aforementioned cybercrimes. The article provides suggestions for further research into cybercrime victimization.

When the Allied victory over the Axis powers is becoming certain, American officials start making plans for the occupation of Germany. In the aftermath of the invasion in 1944, some of these plans are brought to the attention of the Secretary of the Treasury in Roosevelt’s war cabinet, Henry Morgenthau. These plans infuriate him, because he considers them too lenient on Germany, which in his opinion should be reduced to an agrarian economy after its Nazi leadership has been summarily executed. The President at first agrees with this line of action as do most of the members of his cabinet. The only one opposing these ideas is the Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, suggesting economic reconstruction and an international tribunal instead. His opposition seems in vain, when Roosevelt and Churchill publicly agree to this course of action towards Germany during a meeting in Quebec. But the ‘Morgenthau plan’ unravels when it is leaked to the press and it causes an uproar. Roosevelt fears for his re-election chances and hastily retreats. But he makes no decision on the issue and Stimson has to wait for his opportunity. It comes in the person of a new President: Harry Truman. He agrees to Stimson’s proposal for an international tribunal and this brings the United States on board of an allied majority for what is later to become the Nuremberg Tribunal.

Could one imagine that up until the mid-1940s international treaties had been ratified on postal services, copyright protection, and whale hunting, but not on genocide? It was only after the Second World War that the deliberate and systematic destruction of groups was recognised as an international crime. There had not even been a name for this practice, which has existed since the beginning of humanity. The 1948 Genocide Convention, the first human rights treaty adopted by the United Nations, was a milestone in the international protection of human rights, although several tragedies have shown that mere law is not sufficient to relegate genocide to the scrapheap of history. The initiator of the Convention was not a very well-known man. This article is about the struggle of Raphael Lemkin, who had, with unflagging zeal, devoted his life to the elimination of genocide.

This article paints Henk Leenen as the godfather of Dutch health law. Godfather because Leenendesigned his own version of health law, a version that is characterized by an emphasis on autonomy of the patient. And godfather because Leenen was one of the founders of the Dutch Association of Health Law and for many years the editor of its periodical. He succeeded to bind almost all health law scholars to this organization and his way of seeing health law. The article illustrates Leenen’s influence by describing his reading of autonomy in health law, by outlining his informal and formal position in the health law landscape and by sketching the coming into being and the content of two important laws: the Law on medical contracts and the Law on physician assisted death (‘euthanasia’).

Prevention is very difficult to evaluate. If the situation you are trying to avoid, does not occur, it is likely to continue with prevention. If the situation does occur, it is logical to continue with the already taken preventive measures or even intensify these. This is what we call the ‘prevention trap’. In the first part of the article, a framework is presented for a methodological way to test policy on signals of the presence of a ‘prevention trap’. In the second part this framework is applied on the way the city of Amsterdam is dealing with the brothers and sisters of the top 600 criminal offenders, in the so called ‘Top 600 approach’. Some conclusions are drawn.

Waar het gaat om de uitwisseling van medische gegevens vormt de hoedanigheid van familielid als zodanig geen grond om inbreuk te maken op het medisch beroepsgeheim. Het is in beginsel aan de betrokkene zelf om uit te maken of familieleden mogen worden geïnformeerd. In deze bijdrage worden situaties besproken waarin familieleden vanwege de rol die zij vervullen (vertegenwoordiger) of de belangen die zij bij inzage in het dossier van hun naaste hebben (rouwverwerking, behoefte aan informatie over erfelijkheidsonderzoek of andere gezondheidsbelangen, vermoeden van een medische fout, vermogensbelangen) moeten of mogen worden geïnformeerd, ook al heeft de betrokkene daarmee niet expliciet ingestemd.

The draft of the Dutch Whistleblower Protection Act that is currently discussed in Parliament can be regarded as an essential step forward in the protection of whistleblowers. However, it can be questioned if the Act will contribute in an optimal manner to the ideal of transparency and the fight against the abuse of power, which should be the main goal of the Act. The tasks and powers of the new House for Whistleblowers are rather unclear and they do not meet legal standards. The combination of advice and support to whistleblowers and independent research into major violations of integrity should be abolished.

Various disciplines have a longstanding tradition of studying musical genres and the various functions of music, but few criminologists focus on music in their scientific work. This article discusses various relationships between music, crime and culture. We discuss the hypothesis of ‘criminogenic’ music genres, and countless examples of criminalisation of music. We point at the stilistic importance of music genres for subcultures and social movements, and we raise ethical aspects: music can also be used as an instrument of (symbolic) violence, as a punishment or even as torture. Finally, we discuss other functional uses of music: as a vehicle for human emotions, for therapeutic purposes, to influence the behavior of employees and consumers, to enhance feelings of public safety, and to prevent crime and nuisance.

In this essay the nature of crime and death in opera is dealt with, focussing on a select number of operas, such as Verdi’s MacBeth, Wagner’s Die Walküre and Strauss’s Salome and Elektra. It appears that crime in opera is pervasive and appears in many different forms, as well as in a wide variety of contexts. An attempt is made to analyse the way composers manipulate the circumstances of killings – lenghtening or shortening or replacing scenes – in order to get maximum results in terms of emotional content.

The social history of jazz music in America since 1880 has been described as a movement out of the inauspicious background of night clubs and brothels in the urban underworld. In 1980 Ronald L. Morris has published a book, Wait until dark, fostering a contrary view (that should inspire criminology). Morris claimed that until 1940 the ‘mob’ had promoted jazz music as gangsters hired black musicians without concern for the law and the conventions of racial segregation. There is some evidence that even during the 1950s the jazz scene of New York City and Las Vegas had also been partly organized by the mafia.

In this article I will explore the concept of transgression within the realm of rock music using the biography of Lou Reed, known for such songs as ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ and ’I’m Waiting for the Man’. I discuss Lou Reed’s social transgressions as a reaction to and resistance toward institutions of social control such as family, media and the music industry, which stigmatized him as an outsider. This study, which is based on secondary material, such as biographies, interviews and songs, shows how Lou Reed transgressed social norms with respect to drugs, sex, and gender.

Some serious events end lethally while others do not. This study examined to what extent a selected number of event characteristics and actors’ behaviour contributed to the escalation of an event into a lethal outcome. We examined Dutch court files of 267 serious events in which offenders were convicted for either lethal violence (homicide, N=126) or non-lethal violence (attempted homicide, N=141). Pronounced differences were found between lethal versus non-lethal events with respect to event characteristics and to actors’ behaviour during the incident in particular. In particular, the likelihood of a lethal outcome increased in events involving alcohol use by victims, firearm use by offenders, victim precipitation and the absence of third parties.