How does society respond to crime?

After a crime has been committed, a variety of things may happen: the victim may report the crime to the police (or not), the crime may be linked to a suspect (or not), a suspect may be found guilty (or not), and convicted offenders may end up being incarcerated (or not). NSCR studies all these aspects of the aftermath of crime and our societal response to crime and punishment.

We investigate the impact of sanctions on the lives of perpetrators and the risk of recidivism. To study sanctions we use a variety of methods and datasets. We investigate police practice through interviews and observations, and we follow convicted persons through the legal system. In addition, we conduct research in correctional institutions for juvenile offenders.

Program leaders: Barbora Holá and Anja Dirkzwager

New NSCR pillar: research into victims and victimization

15 April 2020

What exactly is victimology? ‘Victimology is the research into victims and victimization. For example, with victims of a crime we investigate: what did you experience? What feelings do you have? What should be done for you? How do police and criminal law treat you? What do you expect from a criminal trial? How does the […]

Real-life observations of social distance in public: do people actually do it?

6 April 2020

Rosenkrantz Lindegaard and Snoek draw on full time recordings of 55 surveillance cameras in Amsterdam to identify hotspots for rule-breaking of the social distancing measures. For their analysis, they apply video artificial intelligence and systematic behavioral coding, in order to establish where in the city people tend to break the rules, e.g. gather in groups […]

The Human Factor of Cybercrime

5 December 2019

As a result, human decision-making plays a substantial role in the course of an offence, the justice response, and policymakers’ attempts to legislate against these crimes. This book focuses on the human factor in cybercrime: its offenders, victims, and parties involved in tackling cybercrime. Traditional criminal or new offender types? The distinct nature of cybercrime […]

Deterrence versus procedural justice. Successfully reducing reoffending

10 October 2019

An important aim of imposing sanctions is preventing people who have already committed crimes from breaking the law again. However, worldwide, the figures for reoffending are high. Usually, the criminal law system assumes that criminals will reoffend less if they perceive sanctions as (more) severe and if they feel they have been treated (more) fairly […]

Peter van der Laan appointed as interim director NSCR

10 October 2019

Peter van der Laan studied special education at Leiden University. In 1991, he gained his doctorate for a thesis entitled Experimenteren met alternatieve sancties voor jeugdigen (Experimenting with alternative sanctions for juveniles). For many years, he has carried out research in the area of child protection, juvenile deliquency and (youth) criminal law. From 1981 to […]

Pressure during investigative interview increases risk of wrong sentencing

15 May 2019

Miscarriages of justice, such as the Schiedam Park murder case, occur in the Netherlands too. This case led to further research and recommendations to structure the investigative interview differently, and to report it better. In England and Wales, famous cases of miscarriages of justice are the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six and the Maguire Seven. […]

Reputation influences collaboration within cryptomarket for drugs

13 March 2019

Cryptomarkets are online “marketplaces” that are only accessible using encryption software, which hides the identity and location of users. This coding technology makes it difficult for law enforcers to tackle these marketplaces. The markets can be found in the Dark Web, the part of the Internet not indexed by search engines. Trust problem due to […]

Cybercrime has serious consequences for its victims

8 February 2019

Online crimes include offences such as hacking into a database containing personal details or using a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack to paralyse a bank’s website. ‘Conventional’ offences can also be committed online, however. Examples of this would be online fraud, stalking, making threats, and distributing images of child sexual abuse. Online offences differ […]

The value of victim advocacy in practice

7 February 2019

In the Netherlands, victims of crime have long held so-called ‘victims’ rights’. EU guidelines setting minimum standards for these rights, and for the support and protection of the victims of criminal offences, were also laid down in 2017. The Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security, which has invested in the funding and training of victim […]

How does society respond to crime?

Program leaders: Barbora Holá and Anja Dirkzwager

New NSCR pillar: research into victims and victimization

Real-life observations of social distance in public: do people actually do it?

The Human Factor of Cybercrime

Deterrence versus procedural justice. Successfully reducing reoffending

Peter van der Laan appointed as interim director NSCR

Pressure during investigative interview increases risk of wrong sentencing

Reputation influences collaboration within cryptomarket for drugs

Cybercrime has serious consequences for its victims

The value of victim advocacy in practice

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