Maastricht Institute for Criminal Sciences
Located at the law faculty of the University of Maastricht, the Maastricht Institute for Criminal Sciences (MICS) brings together scholars from all over the world with different academic and professional backgrounds such as law, forensic psychology, criminalistics, and criminology. The multidisciplinary research focuses on crime, criminal law, and criminal justice systems combining a legal comparative approach with a social scientific methodology. Our staff teaches a variety of bachelor and master courses both in Dutch and English, including the unique English speaking master Forensics, Criminology and Law and the Dutch master Forensica, Criminologie & Rechtspleging. MICS is involved in numerous international academic and research networks.
Research
Research at MICS is multidisciplinary and covers fields of criminal law, criminology, psychology, neurosciences and forensics. Apart from studying the law in the books and the law in action, the normative, cognitive and operational assumptions that underlie criminal policies and law making are at the core of our research. Contemporary challenges posed by crime are no longer limited to the nation state but require a multidisciplinary and global analytical framework. Shifting paradigms within criminal justice systems broadened the view from the nation state over the cross-border and European level all up to the international level and cyberspace.
MICS conducts cutting-edge research on three main focus-themes:
- Quality and Fairness in Criminal Justice
- Crime & Criminal Justice in a European and Global Context
- Responses to Crime
MICS’s research takes place in the following four streams:
1. Values
2. Institutions
4. Mobility
5. Digitalisation
News
Donna Yates Appointed UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage and Emerging Crime
New research maps femicide in Dutch legal practice
Elvira Loibl Appointed Endowed Professor of Recognition, Dialogue, and Recovery After Intercountry Adoption by the University for Humanistic Studies
- Researchers
Inaugural lecture Jan Willem van Prooijen
- Researchers
Blogs
Does the ban on designer drugs in the Netherlands work?
- Law
On Thursday, January 22, 2026, the Research and Data Centre (WODC) and the Trimbos Institute jointly organised the annual symposium of the National Drug Monitor (NDM). During the meeting, the latest figures and trends were presented: who uses drugs, and what developments are visible? What stood out? The rise of the new psychoactive substance (NPS) 3MMC, best known by the name MIAUW.
Cross-border Financial Police Investigations
- Law
Tracing and confiscating criminal assets is an essential part of the fight against organised crime, because it provides better insight into the financial logistics of criminal operations and "hits criminals where it really hurts: in their wallets." However, the challenges posed by cross-border cooperation in the field of financial investigations complicate the fight against serious forms of crime. Research into cross-border police cooperation and the challenges associated with it is however relatively scarce. Moreover, this type of research often focuses on classic forms of police and judicial cooperation and tends to ignore financial aspects of crime. To fill this gap, the study "Cross-border Financial Police Investigations" has been started.
From Mayors to Sheriffs: How the Netherlands is Fighting Organised Crime (and Germany is Taking Notes)
- Law
The administrative approach to organised crime has redefined local governance in the Netherlands, where mayors wield powerful tools to disrupt illicit networks. As Germany begins to experiment with similar strategies, comparative insights become essential.
How Germany Almost Legalized Cannabis
- Law
The 1st of April 2024 marks the day when Germany adopted the most progressive legal approach to cannabis in Europe. While for the Dutch, this may sound like an April’s fool prank, it is far from it: The new German CanG (Cannabis Law) regulates the consumption, possession, and supply of the soft drug more consistently than the world-famous Dutch tolerance policy with its unique coffee shops ever did. But the road towards the regulation was rocky, full of aberrations and disappointments.
European Day for the Victims of Crime
- Law
On February 22, it's the 'European Day of the Victim'. On this day, various organizations at home and abroad pay attention to victims of criminal offenses. For example, Victim Support Europe organizes a symposium in Brussels titled 'Leave No Victim Behind: Victims' Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals'. This event is a good example of how victim organizations gratefully make use of international and supranational instruments - in this case, the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations - which aim (partly) to improve the position of victims.
