The Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology conducts extensive research on imprisonment. Sending a person to prison is the most severe form of punishment that can be applied in the criminal justice systems of European countries. In most countries, the number of prisoners has risen in recent decades.…

It has been found that the better a prisoner is treated, the more effective the sentence. Leiden criminologists therefore research how detention can be improved in such areas as prison life and contact between prisoners and their children.

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

Inside-Out Prison Exchange is a course in which students and prisoners work together on research questions in the area of crime, law enforcement and major social issues. The course takes place at a unique location: within the walls of a prison.

Ten years ago, a new reward system was introduced in Dutch prisons: the only way prisoners could earn extra ‘freedoms’ was through good behaviour. Jan Maarten Elbers concludes that this system does little to encourage behavioural change and can even be counterproductive.

Leiden Law Cast is a podcast made by Leiden Law School, Leiden University, for everyone who wants to learn more about current legal issues.

Prisoners who are visited regularly by family or friends are less likely to be reconvicted in the short term than inmates who rarely or never receive visits. Visits should therefore be encouraged and facilitated, according to PhD candidate Maria Berghuis, who will defend her doctoral thesis on 23 June…

Prisoners who have little or no contact with the outside world are more prone to reoffend. What makes visits so important?

On 11 October, Amanda Pasma defended the thesis 'Re-entry support from prison-based and community-based professionals'. The doctoral research was supervised by Paul Nieuwbeerta, Hanneke Palmen and Esther van Ginneken.

Cuts in the prison system threaten to be at the expense of security, including that of society, writes university lecturer Esther van Ginneken in an opinion piece in Dutch newspaper NRC.

Adults are more likely to reoffend after a short prison sentence than comparable adults with a non-custodial sentence, Leiden University research shows. This is true for the likelihood and extent of repeat crime.

One perspective, one cell, one outlook on life: what are we all prisoners of? That’s the question Vrij Nederland put to various experts, including Joni Reef, Assistant Professor and Research Fellow at the Department of Criminology.

On 5 September 2019, Jennifer Doekhie defended her thesis 'Dimensions of desistance: A qualitative longitudinal analysis of different dimensions of the desistance process among long-term prisoners in the Netherlands'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P. Nieuwbeerta.

The thesis addresses the long-term dynamical evolution of hierarchical multiple systems.

PhD defence

Dutch political parties have presented their own 'solutions' to make society 'safer'. How do the party positions compare with scientific research on crime reduction?

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded Veni funding to two researchers from the Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology. Anke Ramakers and Hilde Wermink. This award offers these criminologists the opportunity to develop their own ideas over a period of three years.

The Life in Custody (LIC) Study comprises a large-scale research project into prison climate and the quality of prison life in Dutch prisons.

Why do violent incidents occur in prisons? And how do staff respond? Assistant Professor Esther van Ginneken will use a grant from the NWO Vidi Talent Programme to conduct research into these and other questions. She intends to make use of virtual reality.

If you end up in prison somewhere in the world, the chances are you won’t be allowed to vote. If it were up to researchers Tom Theuns and Andrei Poama, rather than disenfranchise felons, we would oblige them to vote. That would be a better way to express democratic values.

Prisoners deserve better professional support when preparing to return to society. PhD candidate Amanda Pasma: ‘You can’t imprison everyone for life. Society will have to give prisoners a second chance.’

Hilde Wermink, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Criminal Law & Criminology was interviewed on this topic for an article published in US News on 13 May.

The Computer Systems, Imagery & media (CSI) research programme performs research on methods and techniques for the design, implementation and application of advanced computer systems, in particular parallel, distributed and embedded computer systems.

For a successful return to society, incarcerated individuals must work on their reentry during their sentence. Not all such individuals receive good reentry support. This is according to a report by Leiden criminologists.

On 22 June, Najib Amin defended the thesis 'State-building, lawmaking, and criminal justice in Afghanistan: a case study of the prison system’s legal mandate, and the rehabilitation programmes in Pul-e-charkhi prison'. The doctoral research was supervised by Jan Michiel Otto and Pauline Schuyt.

Promotor: J.N. Kok, Co-promotor: H.J. Hoogeboom

Promotor: C. W. J. Beenakker, Co-promotor: J. K. Asboth

What are the functions of the endocannabinoid system?

In this thesis, a system pharmacology approach, integrating metabolomics, pharmacology and chemical biology, was applied to understand and modulate the endocannabinoid system across different model systems (cells, zebrafish, mice and humans).

Bart Schuurman, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, discusses the development of the exchange of letters between Mohammed B. and ‘prisoner X’ and the usefulness of a separate terrorist department.

On Thursday 14 March, the third ILS Lunch Seminar of this year took place. In this well visited seminar, Nienke van Heek and Esther van Ginneken gave two very insightful presentations on their respective research topics.

In modern information systems, a large number of different components are often active simultaneously. This phenomenon - known as concurrency - underlies not only the functioning of computer systems but of any system in which many processes take place at the same time.

A stable home situation is important for the successful return to society of prisoners. So what is their home situation like? And what effect does it have on reoffending? PhD defence on 16 January 2020.

The aim of the research programme Systems Pharmacology lies in the development of personalised medicine strategies, and development of new systems-based approaches in translational and clinical pharmacology.

Labour market reintegration: what is working and what could be done better? These questions were at the centre of Dutch BNR Nieuwsradio's podcast ‘Werkverkenners’. The podcast makers interviewed Anke Ramakers, Assistant Professor of Criminology at the Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, for answers…

An increasing amount of research is demonstrating the importance of taking parenting from prison seriously. But the plans of Minister Dekker of Legal Protection do not address this issue.

Systems are called real-time systems, if the correctness of the system does not only depend on the correctness of the system output but also on whether the output is delivered on time.

Here are some systems and infrastructures that are useful to students.

Adenosine is an endogenous ligand which exerts its action by activating adenosine receptors (ARs), while its circulating levels are controlled via a variety of mechanism and proteins, amongst others the equilibrative nucleoside transporters (ENTs).

Complex systems can be characterized as systems in which multiple components interact with each other, often in non-linear ways. The main goal of this research will be to investigate if and how the international tax system can be defined and modelled as a complex system. Approaching the international…