Over 700 students judged fictitious descriptions of court cases, in which the gender of the offender was systematically varied, as well as a number of aspects pertinent to theories that explain disparities in sentencing between females and males. The results show that females indeed received shorter sentences than males, and that this difference could be attributed to the fact that male student-judges gave women shorter sentences and differential sentencing for violent crimes. We found mixed support for the chivalry as well as for the perceptual shorthand theory. More research is needed, in more realistic settings, to explain gender differences in sentencing.

Op 8 oktober 2010 wees de Hoge Raad het baanbrekende Hangmat-arrest, waarin werd geoordeeld dat een vrouw die medebezitter was van een opstal haar echtgenoot die eveneens medebezitter was, kon aanspreken voor 50% van haar schade. In haar noot bij het arrest plaatst de auteur enige kanttekeningen bij het oordeel van de Hoge Raad. Zij gaat daarbij in op het relativiteitsvereiste, de aangenomen gedeeltelijke aansprakelijkheid van de medebezitter en de te verwachten impact van het arrest op ons aansprakelijkheidsrecht en de verzekeringsbranche. Het Hangmat-arrest levert vanuit dogmatisch oogpunt in elk geval het nodige voer voor discussie op.

Globalization has generated an increasing necessity of having to litigate in foreign courts and to enforce judgment in other countries. The diversity of procedural regimes represents an important obstacle for an efficient access to justice, which triggered a debate on the need for harmonization of civil procedure. These topics were explored in the conference organized by Dr. Xandra Kramer and Prof. dr. C.H. (Remco ) van Rhee on 17-18 June, 2010, under the auspices of Erasmus University Rotterdam. The instant conference report summarizes the arguments on the future of procedural harmonization in Europe, which seem to favor a horizontal approach to harmonization.

Sociale netwerksites kunnen zich verheugen in een grote populariteit, vooral onder jongeren. In dit artikel wordt onderzocht hoeveel persoonlijke informatie (zoals naam, adres, telefoonnummer) jongeren toevertrouwen aan profielen op sociale netwerksites en hoe deze online zichtbaarheid zich verhoudt tot hun kans om slachtoffer te worden van onterechte bankafschrijvingen, een vorm van identiteitsfraude. De resultaten tonen aan dat deze kans toeneemt naarmate er meer persoonlijke informatie op sociale netwerksites vermeld is. Vooral het achterlaten van naam en telefoonnummer is risicoverhogend, ook als gecontroleerd wordt voor andere relevante predictoren. Toekomstig onderzoek is nodig om het verband tussen online zichtbaarheid en identiteitsfraude verder te ontrafelen.

How can the social environment of a prison be accurately assessed? Why is it important to measure? How should the prison experience be represented in empirical research? How do we capture distinctions between prisons, which can be good or bad in so many different ways? There is considerable consensus about the inadequacy of narrow and selective performance measures, such as hours spent in purposeful activity or serious assaults, in representing prison quality. The difficulties are both methodological and conceptual. This paper will outline one attempt to address these questions in England and Wales. Based on a series of studies aimed at identifying and measuring aspects of prison life that ‘matter most’, prisoners describe stark differences in the moral and emotional climates of prisons serving apparently similar functions. The ‘differences that matter’ are in the domain of interpersonal relationships and treatment. A developmental programme of empirical research on the quality of life in prison suggests that (a) some prisons are more survivable than others and (b) important differences in identifiable aspects of prison quality exist and may be related to outcomes. These findings have implications for our understanding of the meaning of terms like ‘inhuman and degrading’ treatment as well as for our uses and expectations of the prison.

Since the national legal systems and legal cultures diverse, the question is raised whether the jurisprudence should concern itself more with the legal cultural context of a given meta-legal study. The issues and outcomes of a particular legal socio-philosophical study carry the problems and problematizations that are relevant for the societal, legal and academic world of the scholar concerned. Scholars such as John Rawls, Martha Nussbaum and Richard Posner may deserve to join the first ranks of the American academic world, but what is their contribution to the issues and debates of the European legal cultures and the Dutch legal culture in particular? A plea is made for more diversity in selecting and reading the works of scholars from abroad. In demonstrating the need for diversity the work of Alain Supiot is discussed.

The question of social engineering is an important aspect of debates on security: up to what point can undesired behavior be corrected, prevented or diminished? To what extent is human behavior malleable? This article is a reflection on the development of social engineering, through the lense of the developments in the north of Amsterdam. It is an area that can be seen as a laboratory, a testing ground for the social democratic dream to create a new man, by uplifting and disciplining the urban poor. The central thesis is that the present redevelopment of Amsterdam Noord is predicated upon a shift in governmental strategy: from social engineering to spatial engineering. Location is arguably no longer used to uplift the population, presently the social composition of the population is being changed to uplift the location.

Op 1 juni 2010 en 15 juni 2010 heeft het Hof van Justitie van de Europese Gemeenschap (hierna: Hof van Justitie) twee belangrijke arresten op het terrein van het vrije verkeer en de zorg gewezen. Op 1 juni verscheen het arrest Blanco Pérez en op 15 juni zag het arrest Commissie tegen Spanje het daglicht. Bestaande rechtspraak van het Hof van Justitie wordt door deze twee arresten in een nieuw perspectief gezet. In de arresten van juni 2010 werkt het Hof van Justitie zijn benadering met betrekking tot zorg en vrij verkeer verder uit en nuanceert het ook de uitkomsten van reeds bekende rechtspraak.

Gelijke behandeling en Unieburgerschap gaan hand in hand. Dat betekent onder andere dat de toegang tot onderwijs aan Unieburgers op gelijke basis moet worden verleend, ook als de onderwijssystemen zelf ongelijk zijn. Voor studenten die zijn uitgeloot voor opleidingen in hun eigen lidstaat biedt dit mogelijkheden; voor de Unieburger die in zijn eigen lidstaat wil blijven studeren en de lidstaten zelf levert dit een minder positief beeld op. Hoe verhoudt de gelijke behandeling van Unieburgers zich tot de bevoegdheid van lidstaten om onderwijssystemen vorm te geven? Is het tijd om de bakens te verzetten?

In 1973 a new Dutch cabinet was formed. One of the central points of its programme was to revise the relations with the former Dutch colonies in the West Indies to be able to stop the immigration from Suriname. This immigration was seen by this government as a serious threat to Dutch society. In reality the migration was modest in numbers and consisted for a good deal of middle class people. In 1967 there were 13.000 Surinamese in the Netherlands. But the immigration had gained momentum and in 1972 there were 51.000. The cabinet launched a vigorous campaign to change the relations with Suriname and close the border for immigrants. The outcome of this policy was that there were 110.000 Surinamese in the Netherlands in 1975 and the immigration caused indeed problems that were unknown before. In this article the reasons for the complete failure of the anti-immigration policy are analysed.

Research shows that many companies are unfamiliar with Effective Dispute Resolution (EDR) methods. Increasingly however managers wish to effectively solve disputes. This has resulted in the development of a simple tool for managers. Our conflict resolution chart is based on a literature study of factors proven to play a role in the choice for a particular dispute resolution method. The conflict resolution chart was refined based on the answers of ten managers to a questionnaire about the developed tool. The manager can use the chart as a first indicator of what course of actions with regard to the conflict he has to take.