In retrospect: The successful February edition of the ILS Lunch Seminars
On Thursday 15 February, the second ILS Lunch Seminar of 2018 took place. Prof. Jean-Pierre van der Rest and Maria Berghuis gave two excellent presentations on their particular research topics.
Prof. Jean-Pierre van der Rest presented first, by giving an update on a research paper he presented in June 2016 at the First conference on Empirical Legal Studies in Europe (CELSE) in Amsterdam. He conducted both the initial research and the second study in association with Prof. Willem van Boom, Prof. Kees van den Bos and Dr. Mark Dechesne. In “An Update on “Buyers Beware: Online Pricing in Operation!” he explained how consumers would respond if businesses were under a duty to disclose the use of discriminatory behavioral pricing techniques to customers. The findings indicate that specific disclosure frames affect purchase intentions and that different frames have different effects. Disclosure frames that are relatively more in line with self-interest, increase purchase intention. The frames indirectly affect intention to purchase through its effect on the perception that the use of behavioral pricing information serves self-interest. In this way, van der Rest draws attention to a potentially unanticipated effect of regulatory intervention, in which intervention itself can have adversarial consequences.
The second presentation was given by Maria Berghuis on “Visitation in Dutch prisons: a study on determinants and consequences of prison visitation”. Until now, most criminological research in this context has focused on the positive effects of visitation by reducing feelings of stress, loss and isolation. However, these positive effects are dependent on understanding who gets visited and under which circumstances a prisoner is more or less likely to be visited. In the context of the Life and Custody Project, Berghuis’ doctoral research contains, next to data on prison rules & regulations and administrative data, a prison climate survey on visitation. The data in this survey has been collected in all 28 prisons in the Netherlands, with a response rate of 83%. Among other results, Berghuis has found thus far that prisoners in the Netherlands get 2.79 visitors per month on average and that about one third of the prisoners does not receive any visitors.
The ILS Lunch Seminar of March will take on a slightly different format, as we have the honor of receiving Prof. Vasilis Hatzopoulos, who will present his new book on the Collaborative Economy and EU Law. This event will take place on Thursday 8 March 2018, from 12:00 hrs – 13:00 hrs in KOG B0.41. There is no need to register and lunch will be provided.
Would you like to present yourself and your research? Do not hesitate to contact our ILS student assistant! More information on ILS 2.0 can be found on our website.