Research within the field of Criminal Law and Criminology


In the new faculty researchprogramme Criminal Justice:Legitimacy, Accountability, and Effectivity researchers from the field of criminal law, criminology, legal economics, psychology of law and legal sociology collaborate directly with each other.
Questions about legitimacy, accountability and effectivity are central to this research. The distinguishing element is that the concept of Criminal Justice considers legislation, policy, police practice, jurisdiction, etc., as one system, that needs to be studied in coherence. Researchers for instance do not study a new law onto itself, but do this in coherence with questions about legimaticy, accountatbility and effectivity. The same applies to the study of the nature and scope of specific crimes.  

The central question is: How can be guaranteed that legislation, enforcement, trial and sanction are mutually correspondng with and connect to the findings of criminology, penology and forensic sciences, to the internationalization of law, to the developing demands and ideals of the state under the rule of law, to expectations of the citizen and to demands of effectivity? 

The researchprogramme is to be distinguished in three ways:
  • The research is by its nature dynamic
  • The research has a dynamic perspective
  • The type of research is multidisciplinary

To make full use of the specific character of the underlying different scientific disciplines and the mutual connections in between then, three 'levels' are distinquished on which the research can focus itself: the level of the system (Corpus Iuris); the level of  processes (enforcement, sanctions and interventions) and the level of behavior (perceptions, facts and law). An extended description of the programme and its execution in a matrix will be available here in the near future.

The programme co-ordinators are: prof. Joanne van der Leun en prof. Tineke Cleiren.

On the individual webpages of the staffmembers you can find information about individual involvement in research, like promotion research.