As a result of production pressure, judicial powers focus more on efficiency and less on making sure they get to the truth. Professor of Criminology Jan de Keijser believes that establishing the truth in court cases is under threat. Inaugural lecture 7 November.

Why are so many people killed on the Caribbean islands? And how can we reduce this number? Scientists aim to find answers to these questions by means of a databank. That could help justice and police on the islands to reduce the number of murders.

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.

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 out of control ‘Project X’ event in Haren, hooligans who arrange to meet up to fight and beach riots at the Hoek van Holland: group violence is increasingly hitting the headlines. Are those who took part seasoned criminals? And what characteristics do group offenders have? PhD defence on 29 September…

Polarisation in our society is on the rise. What makes people increasingly radical? How do we protect ourselves from extremist, terrorist or criminal threats, be they physical or in the cyber world? And what role do intelligence services play in this?

In dit unieke uitwisselingsinitiatief volgen studenten van de Faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid samen met gedetineerde personen een vak, binnen de muren van de gevangenis.

It has been argued that the Internet presents numerous new opportunities for crime, including homicide. So far, empirical scholarly research in this domain is rather limited. In order to discover how perpetrators have used the Internet in the homicides they have committed, we conducted an international…

Here you can find an overview of the offered courses provided by the Department of Economics per study program.

Below are some of the scholarly works published within the context of the Institutions for Conflict Resolution programme.

Dr. Pauline Aarten tries to find answers of the impact a road traffic accident has on the victims and surviving relatives and how we can improve their position.

Globalisering en internationalisering zijn onlosmakelijk verbonden met onze samenleving. Universiteiten opereren binnen een internationale context, waarbij het aanbieden van internationale programma's en samenwerking met buitenlandse universiteiten vanzelfsprekend is. De Faculteit der Rechtsgeleerdheid…

Leiden University research institutes based in Leiden and The Hague.

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.

Since the beginning of September, urban criminologist Marianne Franken has been the linchpin of a special partnership between Leiden University, the municipality of Leiden and the police. As a PhD candidate she will spend four years conducting research into how safe the people of Leiden feel.

Human trafficking is much more than kidnapping and selling people. Those who commit labour exploitation can, for example, also be sentenced for human trafficking. Criminologist Masja van Meeteren hopes to simplify the complexity of the phenomenon by charting the different forms of labour exploitati…

Bones contain information about people’s lives such as where they came from, their age at death and which diseases they suffered from. Researchers can deduce a lot from them about a person’s life and about human evolution. This generates leads that could help solve present-day problems, such as how…

The illegal use of hand grenades has generated a lot of public interest over the last few years but very little is known about the nature and extent of these incidents. This research project is trying to fill that gap.

Since the late 1990s, Leiden University has been located in two cities: Leiden and The Hague. Leiden Law School is also involved in teaching and research at Campus The Hague.

On 21 January 2021, Fachrizal Afandi defended his thesis 'Maintaining Order: Public Prosecutors in Post-Authoritarian Countries, the case of Indonesia'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. A.W. Bedner and Prof. J.H. Crijns.

If you want to continue in Urban Studies, the next step after obtaining your bachelor’s is a master’s degree (MA) at a Dutch or international university. And there may be no better place for your further master’s study than Leiden University!

The faculty has around 650 employees, academic and administrative staff. More than 325 of these are involved in teaching. Together they make Leiden Law School what it is today: a faculty driven by its research and enriched by its teaching.

On 7 and 8 November, we celebrated a special milestone during the graduation ceremony for the bachelor’s students in Law, Notarial Law, Tax Law and Criminology.

Increasingly, crime and immigration are mentioned in one breath. This 'interweaving' of these terms is referred to as crimmigration, an expression mainly used in legal science. But what does crimmigration actually entail in practice? Defence on 8 January 2020.

When under duress innocent suspects can make a false confession. Why is this? Legal psychologist Linda Geven will give a talk about this at the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition’s Brain & Law event. At this symposium (in Dutch) on 16 September you can attend talks on fascinating brain research…

Are all murderers calculating psychopaths with an obscene predilection for bloody chainsaws? Yes, if Hollywood is to be believed, but in the real world they are generally everyday people with problematic backgrounds. Professor of Violence and Interventions Marieke Liem therefore calls for the demythologisation…

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

Researchers from five different discplines work together in this interdisciplinary initiative.

The institute hosts criminal lawyers and criminologists who engage in high-quality scientific research that is also relevant for society.

To what extent are there differences between countries in and outside the European Union and the Schengen area in the level of crimmigration, the merger between migration control and crime control, and to what extent can these differences be explained by the way in which state and non-state actors in…

This unique, interdisciplinary Master focuses on the interaction and gaps between the “law on the books” and the “law in action.” It combines theories and methods from both law and the social sciences to the practical operation of law. The core curriculum equips students with the conceptual approaches…

Deze onderzoeksgroep richt zich op het thema ondermijning en financieel-economische criminaliteit, in het bijzonder de aanpak ervan op een aantal deelterreinen.

Psychologist Ilse van de Groep found that people react more aggressively when receiving negative feedback. However, if people already exhibit persistent antisocial behavior they do not respond even more aggressively to negative feedback.This research earned her the Koningsheide Prize 2022 for the scientific…

What is the role of local authorities and communities in shaping how inter-Schengen borders are understood and dealt with?

SOLID: Solidarity under strain - A legal, criminological and economic analysis of welfare states and free movement in the EU. Analysing the ways in which immigration structurally challenges and changes the organization and conceptual boundaries of national welfare states.

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”

Research goal: To support the design of technologies (counter-measures and communication measures) for the prevention, interdiction and mitigation of lone actor extremist events (LOEEs), which are hard to anticipate, yet can be highly damaging to local and national communities and therefore must be…

Urban riots, violent responses by police, drug-related assassinations, child abuse, bar fights: Violence is a core theme in today’s modern society.

Criminal Justice as a concept refers to the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts. While the definition seems rather clear-cut,…

Leiden University finds it very important that you choose the study programme that is right for you. That’s why we offer so-called matching activities, to help you in your decision.

Are you interested in current affairs, developments in society and people? Are you highly motivated, willing to be challenged and able to go just a bit further in finding creative solutions to legal issues, then Rechtsgeleerdheid is the master’s programme for you.

Study information

In 2022, many of our staff and students won fantastic prizes and were awarded important research grants.

Other COI publications can be found on Leiden Law Blog, the Leiden Law Methods Portal, and in the drop-down tabs below.

In one in four criminal cases in the Netherlands, the court receives a report on the state of the defendant’s mental health. How is that information used exactly and what are the consequences? Scientific research has been lacking in this area. The PhD research of Roosmarijn van Es is a first step in…

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…