Research project

Vulnerable Groups and Inequality

The Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology’s ‘Vulnerable Groups and Inequality’ research project draws on a number of disciplines. Some vulnerable groups in society are over-represented in crime figures, including people living in poverty and debt, immigrants, unemployed people and young people. Many experience problems in multiple areas of their lives, preventing them from contributing to society and resulting in undesirable behaviour or criminal activity.

Contact: Rosa Koenraadt

These individuals frequently feel the effects of criminal law policy as a result of their own delinquent behaviour or the disproportionate attention they receive from judicial authorities. They also run an increased risk of becoming victims of crime themselves.

Appropriate, effective social and criminal justice policy is key to improving the well-being of these individuals, victims and society as a whole. However, legislation and policy does not always help solve existing problems and can even be counterproductive. In recent years, for instance, there has been an increased focus on how specific societal structures contribute further to marginalise vulnerable groups and individuals who belong to minority groups, sometimes with far-reaching and disastrous consequences. ‘Vulnerable Groups and Inequality’ is a broad research project that investigates the role of vulnerability in the criminal justice system and vice versa.

Social and economic inequality and socially effective justice

This research theme covers all areas of criminal justice and touches on important legal and criminological issues concerning the causes of crime and effective interventions. It oversees both socio-scientific research into the link between vulnerable groups, criminal behaviour, inequality within the criminal justice system and how criminal justice issues are addressed:

Researchers are primarily concerned with investigating how and the extent to which vulnerable groups have an increased risk of deviant behaviour and which factors are key to stopping crime. Frequent, large-scale research is being conducted into the role of unemployment, debt and mental health problems in deviant behaviour and how making improvements in these areas can contribute to successful reintegration.
Socio-scientific and normative legal research is also being conducted into the position of vulnerable groups and inequality in criminal law. Protecting vulnerable groups requires the use of criminal law instruments where applicable, such as for punishing deliberately discriminatory treatment and gender-based crimes. However, seemingly neutral rules, criteria and practices can particularly disadvantage certain groups and increase inequality with all its implications. Inequality within the criminal justice system is analysed in a number of ways, including through research into the criminalisation of poverty and the role of gender, financial hardship and ethnicity in sentencing decisions.
Besides exposing inequalities, this research project explores the opportunities for and obstacles to tackling the problem, once again drawing on legal and socio-scientific perspectives. Key questions here concern when and how a criminal justice approach serves a purpose. Advanced qualitative and quantitative research methods are used to identify the intended and unintended effects. This research ties in with both problem-solving criminal law and research into the social role of criminal law, as well as other fields of law. The researchers involved collaborate from a variety of disciplines at home and abroad and are active in practice and education.

1. Harm reduction in practice. A comparative analysis of the Dutch and Brazilian approach to drug users.

Researcher: Manuela Dias

Thesis supervisors: Miranda Boone and Sigrid van Wingerden

In 1976, the Netherlands officially adopted harm reduction as a national policy to tackle drug use. In the decades that followed, this approach influenced many other countries – including Brazil, which implemented the same strategy through a federal law in 2006. Despite the theoretical commitment to harm reduction, the extent and manner in which it has been operationalised in practice by government agents in each country – in the first instance, in contact with drug users – is still uncertain. The impact of this kind of approach on users themselves is similarly unclear, and so the aim of this project is to assess whether harm reduction is the most appropriate strategy to address the harmful individual and social consequences of addiction.

2. Prison and beyond

Researchers: Jennifer Doekhie, Rosa Koenraadt and Anouk den Besten

More information (in Dutch only) about this research is available on the Prison and beyond page.

3. Children and domestic violence. The judge as a problem solver in domestic violence cases involving underage victims.

PhD researcher: Nina Eggens

Thesis supervisors: Mariëlle Bruning, Maarten Kunst and Janne van Doorn

Nina Eggens’ interdisciplinary PhD research is a combination of criminology and child law, focusing on the role of the judge as a problem solver in criminal domestic violence cases in which children witnessed violence between their parents. Domestic violence is increasingly seen as a social problem and there is also an increasing focus on child witnesses and the potentially serious implications for them of serving as witnesses. The PhD research focuses on these children’s legal position, the government’s legal obligations and how criminal court judges and professionals deal with these children in practice and what they feel is missing in this regard. Lastly, the research explores alternative justice in the form of domestic violence courts and the extent to which they are centred around the children involved. The results of this research will provide criminal court judges with valuable information and perspectives on dealing with this group of indirect victims, as well as suggestions for improvements.

4. Debts and fines. An insight into the role of financial hardship in sentencing decisions.

Researchers: Rosa Koenraadt and Pauline Schuyt

Each year, thousands of people are fined by the courts. But a fine will affect people suffering financial hardship much more than those with sufficient financial capacity. The judge should therefore factor in the defendant's financial capacity when imposing a fine. However, to date there has been little insight into how financial hardship affects sentencing decisions. This is surprising, given that a large proportion of people who come into contact with the criminal justice system also experience financial hardship. This long-term research project uses normative legal and socio-scientific data – including Statistics Netherlands (CBS) data analysis, interviews and observations – to identify suspects’ financial situations and how those situations currently affect and should affect sentencing decisions.

5. Processes of exclusion and inclusion

Researcher: Marloes van Noorloos

Marloes van Noorloos' research focuses on processes of exclusion and inclusion among specific groups of people when it comes to criminalising behaviour and during investigations, prosecution and trial from a national, comparative law and European or international law perspective. These forms of exclusion include hate speech, hate crimes and defamation proceedings within the context of #metoo, as well as the criminalisation of migration, for example. The research also investigates which values criminal procedure reflects in legislation and case law, factoring in the role of fundamental rights within a changing society. How can we prevent criminal law from having a disproportionate impact on certain groups? How can we prevent criminal law from systematically excluding certain groups of victims from protection at the same time? How do these social issues relate to the classic view of criminal law as a last resort in terms of criminalisation and restrained prosecution?

Van Noorloos’ second focus area within this research project is the role criminal law should play in social protest. What is the role of offences such as incitement and threats as well as terrorism legislation in social protest and the conflicts behind them? How does the use of criminal law in social protest relate to fundamental rights and how should we assess that in the light of the legitimacy of the legal and criminal justice system? Are the current legal frameworks still adequate, considering the online context and changing social context?

6. Mental health problems on trial: does the criminal court judge serve as a border guard between regular mental healthcare and the judicial circuit?

PhD researcher: Vera Oosterhuis

There is an over-representation of people with mental health problems coming before the courts, while within the criminal justice chain the resources often fail to provide the necessary care. Moreover, for serious mental health problems, the term ‘unwell’ is more appropriate than ‘criminal’. From this perspective, a place within the regular mental healthcare system would be more suitable than placement within the judicial circuit. For that reason, the legislature introduced Article 2.3 of the Dutch Forensic Care Act (Wfz), which stipulates that a criminal court may issue a civil authorisation for compulsory care and divert the person concerned away from the criminal justice system. This research explores the practical implementation of that ‘diversion’ through this new legal provision.

7. Judicial equality monitor

Researchers: Hilde Wermink and Arjan Blokland (UL) (in collaboration with Arjan Leerkes and others from Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam)

Young people with migrant backgrounds and weaker socio-economic positions are both relatively more likely to come into contact with the criminal justice system and more likely to be convicted than other suspects. The aim of this research project is to develop a national judicial equality monitor that can be used to observe and monitor problematic social inequalities in criminal investigation and punishment. It will also identify the impact of punishment on various groups of young people. This research is part of the project entitled ‘In search of Trust (IST): Towards effective interventions to monitor and reduce ethno-racial and socio-economic sanctioning disparities’. The Dutch Science Agenda (NWA) has provided the funding for this research.

8. Individuals with mental disorders within the criminal justice system

Researchers: Michiel van der Wolf, Joni Reef, Roosmarijn van Es and Jochem Jansen

Traditionally, individuals with mental disorders have been recognised as a vulnerable group within the criminal justice system. This vulnerability is factored into the various stages of Dutch criminal proceedings in a number of ways. For instance, during the prosecution stage, additional legal safeguards may be applied for this group in order to ensure a fair trial. The decision may also be taken to divert these individuals away from criminal proceedings and towards care. During sentencing, these individuals may be deemed to have diminished responsibility by reason of a mental disorder, which may result in a reduced sentence. However, this also opens up the possibility that the court will impose strict security measures on the individual, such as ‘tbs’ (as referred to in the Dutch criminal justice system, meaning detention under a hospital order if the individual is considered a risk to the public). When it comes to enforcing punishments and other measures, decisions on freedoms, placements and transfers into adequate facilities may factor in additional criteria such as lack of suitability for detention and receptivity to treatment. This long-term research project assesses the current criminal-law response to this vulnerable group by conducting empirical legal research based on the balance between legal protection and law enforcement.

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On 22 March 2024, the conference Ongelijkheid en de strafrechtspleging (Inequality and the criminal justice system) was held at Leiden Law School, organised by Mojan Samadi, Ellen Gijselaar, Marloes van Noorloos and Rosa Koenraadt. Journalist Folkert Jensma published an article (in Dutch) about the conference in Dutch newspaper NRC.