If you want to maintain a valid penal system, you have to continue to ask the big questions on punishment. Why do we punish people? What is permissible for the government and what is not? Philosopher of Law Jeroen ten Voorde examines these kinds of questions and keeps his academic colleagues and the…

A punishment that fits the crime is the cornerstone of the rechtsstaat or constitutional state. But opinions differ greatly on what constitutes a just and effective punishment. Research by Leiden University provides politicians, legislators, law enforcers and the public with new information and insights…

In his lecture, Professor Platt discussed some of the main arguments from his latest book entitled “Beyond these Walls: Rethinking Crime and Punishment in the United States”

You often hear that the public find court sentences too short. Professor Jan de Keijser emphasises that the gap is reduced if the public is given more information about a case and the sentence.

Andrei Poama, Assistant Professor at Leiden University, published a piece in the journal of Political Philosophy about social injustice, disadvantaged offenders and the state's authority to punish.

On 10 March 2021, Pieter Huizing defended his thesis 'Parallel Enforcement of International Cartels and Its Impact on the Proportionality of Overall Punishment'. The doctoral thesis was supervised by Prof. T.R. Ottervanger.

What are the determinants of the willingness to administer rewards for cooperation and punishments for non-cooperation, and how do they influence people’s sanctioning behavior?

People prefer to reward cooperative behaviour than punish egotistical behaviour, even if this egotism has a negative effect on others. This is the conclusion of organisational psychologist Welmer Molenmaker in his research on the willingness to reward or punish cooperative behaviour. PhD defence 19…

There are frequent calls from society for heavier prison sentences, but the question is whether longer sentences result in a safer society. Judges are seeing more and more offenders with social and psychological problems and they therefore often prescribe a programme of treatment and monitoring for…

Just imagine: you see someone being treated unfairly. Do you find it more rewarding to help the victim or punish the perpetrator? Research by Leiden psychologist Mirre Stallen indicates that punishing is more rewarding. Publication in JNeurosci.

When an international cartel is exposed, the parties involved often face punishment by more than one authority for the same behaviour. There is very little international coordination in the actions of these authorities. Pieter Huizing claims that this can, and must, change. PhD defence on 10 March 2…

On 13 October, Assistant Professors Public Administration Toon Kerkhoff and Gerrit Dijkstra discussed whether leaking secret government conversations is a punishable offence.

Van Vollenhoven Lecture 2019

Criminal justice raises intricate moral questions concerning the justification of the penal institution, the mode and extent of criminal sanctions enforcement, the content of criminal sanctions (imprisonment, fines, alternative punishments), the nature of the agent holding penal authority, the normative…

The nine suspects from Hilversum accused of beating Carlo Heuvelman so badly on the night of 14 July last year that he later died will hear their sentences on Friday. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) had demanded that one of the suspects be sentenced to 10 years in prison, and two others eight ye…

In many European countries, the amount of a fine is based on the level of your income. This already exists in Finland, Sweden, Germany, France, and Spain. The Dutch Lower House is now contemplating the introduction of such a system.

Does suffering suffice? Andrei Poama, Assistant Professor at Leiden University, and Paul C. Bauer, research fellow at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research, did an experimental assessment of desert retributivism. Their resulsts were published on April 20 on PLOS ONE.

Everyone most obey the law. If you don’t, you will face the police and the courts. The application of national, European and international criminal law would seem to be a matter of following the letter of the law. But the reality is more nuanced. Criminal law scholars and criminologists from very different…

On 25 November 2020, Sara Arendse defended her thesis 'De uiterlijke verschijningsvorm in het strafrecht'. The doctoral research was supervised by prof. C.P.M. Cleiren and prof. J.M. ten Voorde.

On 17 October 2018, Thomas Sanders defended his doctoral thesis 'Invordering door de overheid: de invordering van geldschulden uit herstelsancties onder de Awb'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. mr. T. Barkhuysen and Prof. mr. M.W. Scheltema.

On Thursday 12 January 2017, Ellen Raaijmakers defended her doctoral thesis ‘The Subjectively Experienced Severity of Imprisonment: Determinants and Consequences’. The defence took place at the Academy Building of Leiden University, Rapenburg 73. The PhD research was supervised by Professor P. Nieuwbeerta…

Critical Edition, Translation and Commentary

This book brings together a collection of emergent research that moves the debate on desistance beyond a general consideration of individual and social structural influences.

PhD defence

On 8 January 2020, Jelmer Brouwer defended his thesis 'Detection, detention, deportation'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. J.P. van der Leun and Prof. M.A.H. van der Woude.

This new article by Monica Kaminska is part of a special issue for Journal of Cybersecurity, based on a selection of contributions from THe Hague Program for Cyber Norms' 2019 Conference.

This study adds nuance to the empirical literature that interrogates the link between exposure to mass violence and post-conflict justice preferences.

How do individuals make decisions? What determines the quality of group decisions? When and why do people cooperate with others? How does intergroup competition evolve?

State utilization of 'hukum adat' and its implication for the Indonesian rule of law

The sentencing decision of the judge might be the most important decision in the criminal proceedings, not only because of the impact the punishment has on the offender, but also because the sentencing decision is a cornerstone of the legitimacy of the entire criminal justice system.

What are the foundations of the regulation of blasphemy, and in which manner, in legal as well as in extra-legal terms, has blasphemy developed over the last decades?

Jurisprudence is a philosophical introduction to the law. This subject is taught by the department of Jurisprudence.

Consensus and harmony or balance and reciprocity?

The Philosophy of Law Department is responsible for various courses both in the Bachelors and the Masters.

The Centre for Public Values & Ethics (CPVE) is an interdisciplinary, academic centre of expertise aiming to conduct and disseminate scientific research on normative issues in the public sector, in particular the fulfillment of public office and the planning, making and executing of public policy, both…

Miriam Cohen defended her PhD dissertation entitled “Reparations for International Crimes and the development of a Civil Dimension of International Criminal Justice” on 28 June 2017. She wrote her thesis under the supervision of Professor L.J. van den Herik and Professor C. Stahn.

The central aim is to systematically study differences in crime patterns and social control between migrants and non-migrants in early modern Frankfurt am Main.

Petra van der Bekerom, Joris van der Voet, and Johan Christensen, three assistant professors at Leiden University, conducted a large-scale survey experiment about whether citizens are more negative about failing service delivery than private organizations.

Building cultures of legality: lawmaking and anxiety in the office of the Governor General.

As a student of the Master's in Comparative Criminal Justice you develop academic, theoretical and research insight in all aspects of crime control. Student actively work on current, concrete problems and are challenged to independently find solutions. Students not only learn about the organization…

Sentencing is becoming increasingly complex for the courts. Legal scholars and criminologists from Leiden document the process of sentencing in the Netherlands. They use this knowledge to advise legislators and those who implement this legislation on how to make sentencing more consistent and effect…

The research master's specialisation Social and Organisational Psychology consists of five main parts: the general courses, the specialisation-specific courses, the elective courses, a research internship and a thesis.

Research at Leiden Law School means research at the highest level. Leiden Law School has eight broad research programmes and one specific ‘profile area’: Interaction between legal systems - which aims to understand the complex interaction between the various levels of jurisdiction and to solve the resulting…

Religions involve belief in the unbelievable: in evil spirits causing disease, in souls surviving death, and in gods punishing wrongdoers and blessing the just. Cognitive studies suggest that humans are predisposed to speculate about fate and divine agency, but support from so-called ‘plausibility structures’…

The Prison Project investigates to what extent imprisonment has consequences for the relapse, health, career and intimate relations of the (ex-)prisoners.

The chief aim of this study is to explore how classical Persian poetry and the Persian mysticism that is interwoven with the poetry have been used in the new politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially during the Iran-Iraq war.

Gerrie Lodder has published an article in the Dutch legal periodical Nederlands Juristenblad on the exploitation of labour migrants from the perspective of human rights.

How can and should tasks and competences for the purpose of the criminal justice system (i.e. legislation, enforcement, the administration of justice and sentencing) be defined and formulated, while at the same time taking into account the chain concept, adjoining national and international legal domains…