Past PhD Projects

Tamara Gelderman, Decomposition: A colourful tool

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. Mr. W.L.J.M. Duijst; Prof. Dr. R.J. Oostra (UvA); Dr. T. Krap

ABSTRACT:

The accurate estimation of the postmortem interval based on decomposition is of great importance both legally and socially. This dissertation is a contribution to the scientific understanding of decomposition both nationally and internationally.

In Dutch criminal courts, the postmortem interval is often estimated based on the extent of a body’s decomposition without the application of a scientifically validated method. In this dissertation, a user-friendly and practical method, the Total Decomposition Score, was developed and presented. This method was compared to the internationally most-researched decompositional method, the Total Body Score, and no differences were found in relation to either the postmortem interval or accumulated degree days, which means the Total Decomposition Score can be used in practice. To further develop this method and to investigate the decomposition process of human remains on land in general, a Dutch Forensic Taphonomy center should be developed.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 09/04/2025

Diana Berzina, Criminogenic objects, senses, and Atmospheres in Criminology: Exploring Human-Object Relationships in Art Markets

SUPERVISORS: Dr. D. Yates; Prof. Dr. S. Mackenzie  

ABSTRACT:

This study examined how non-economic influences—such as senses, atmospheres, and materiality—shape human relationships with objects in contexts that may involve harmful or illegal behavior. It aimed to incorporate these often-overlooked sensorial and atmospheric components into criminological theories, emphasizing the significance of materiality in understanding commodities-related crimes. The research challenges dominant conceptions of commodities-related crime and illicit markets, where objects are often seen as passive and interchangeable, and human decisions are viewed as primarily motivated by economic factors. Instead, this study highlights the active role of objects in shaping human experiences. The findings show that objects are not merely targets of collecting or desire. They contribute to creating and influencing meaningful human experiences, impacting individuals on physical, sensory, and emotional levels. The relationship between humans and objects is dynamic, forming new and emotive connections through their interaction. By focusing on the interplay between humans, objects, and atmospheres, this study provides fresh insights into the material and sensorial dimensions of crime, offering a more comprehensive perspective on the complexities of illicit markets.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 05/02/2025

Cécile Woudenberg-van den Broek, Death in denial: A study into the Dutch system of postmortem investigation

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. Mr. W.L.J.M. Duijst; Prof. Dr. J. van der Velden (Radboud Medisch Centrum)   

ABSTRACT:

Recent reports on forensic medicine in the Netherlands highlight the need for significant improvements in postmortem investigations. Concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of the Dutch system, which relies on the distinction between 'natural' and 'non-natural' deaths, often leading to ambiguity and errors in classification. The system places a significant burden on attending physicians, many of whom lack sufficient legal knowledge and consistency in conducting external postmortem examinations. A survey revealed that only about 20% of physicians feel competent, possess the necessary legal knowledge, and act consistently. Furthermore, studies show that only 6.7% of death certificates are completed correctly. This thesis questions the adequacy of the Dutch system, arguing that it may not meet the criteria set by the European Convention on Human Rights for an effective postmortem investigation.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 01/10/2024

Jiska Jonas-van Dijk, Opening the black box of victim-offender mediation: Does participation in VOM reduce offenders' risk of reoffending and, if so, how?

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. J.M. Nelen; Prof. Dr. Mr. J.A.A.C. Claessen; Dr. S. Zebel (UTwente) 

ABSTRACT:

Victim-offender mediation (VOM) in criminal cases is a growing judicial practice in Europe and abroad. In VOM victim and offender have a conversation in presence of a trained mediator. This process can help victims to recover and offenders to take responsibility, make amends and decrease their risk of reoffending. Despite the demonstrated favorable link between VOM and recidivism, no empirical research exists that has addressed why and how participation in VOM reduces reoffending compared to non-participation. This dissertation aimed to open this ‘black-box’ of victim offender mediation and to unravel how and why participation in mediation is related to a lower risk of reoffending. It examined if participation in Dutch mediation practices is related to a lower risk of reoffending, which psychological change might underlie this behavior change and which elements of mediation might explain these outcomes.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 07/02/2024

Alice Giannini, Criminal Behavior and Accountability of Artificial Intelligence Systems

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. Mr. A.H. Klip; Prof. Dr. M. Papa (University of Florence)  

ABSTRACT:

AI systems have the capacity to act in a way that can generally be considered as ‘criminal’ by society. Yet, it can be argued that they lack (criminal) agency and the feeling of it. In the future, however, humans could develop expectations of norm-conforming behaviour from machines. Criminal law might not be the right answer for AI-related harm, even though holding AI systems directly liable could be useful to a certain extent. This thesis explores the issue of criminal responsibility of AI systems by focusing on whether such a legal framework would be needed and feasible. It aims to understand how to deal with the (apparent) conflict between AI and the most classical notions of criminal law. The occurrence of AI is not the first time that criminal law theory has had to deal with new scientific developments. Nevertheless, the debate on criminal liability of AI systems is somewhat different: it is deeply introspective. In other words, discussing the liability of new artificial agents brings about pioneering perspectives on the liability of human agents. As such, the thesis poses questions that find their answers in one’s own beliefs on what is human and what is not, and, ultimately, on what is right and what is wrong.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 24/11/2023

Giulia Giardi, Illegal Waste Management Activity in the Process of Bunker Fuel Production: a Criminological Case Study of Corporate Environmental Crime and its Enforcement

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. J.M. Nelen; Dr. Mr. C.A.R. Moerland 

ABSTRACT:

Wherever you are right now, there’s a good chance that an object in your vicinity is connected to the stories told in this book. The phone in your pocket, the chair you’re sitting on, or the shirt you’re wearing – they likely travelled to you on a large container ship, which burned bunker fuel. Alternatively, petroleum-based substances were likely used in their production, which involved the generation of waste oils. We rarely talk about waste oils or bunker fuel, yet they are essential to our modern existence. They are also dangerously intertwined: waste oils are systematically blended into bunker fuel at the cost of our health and that of our planet. These activities violate international and EU law. In the Netherlands, they are criminal offences. Also in the Netherlands, unique efforts have been made to fight these crimes. This book draws on never-before used data on both crimes and enforcement to shed light on this murky world. Whether you are professionally or privately engaged in contrasting corporate crime or environ mental harm, this book can enhance your perspective and toolset.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 24/05/2023

Kim Geurtjens, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs In The Meuse Rhine Euregion: exploration of the phenomenon, OMCG-related crime and the public response to OMCGs

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. J.M. Nelen; Dr. M. Vanderhallen 

ABSTRACT:

Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) have been increasingly viewed as a threat to society. Members have been associated with disturbances of public order as well as various forms of organized crime. In response, the authorities in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium have each implemented their own zero-tolerance strategies to prevent and repress outlaw biker crime and deviance. In the cross-border Meuse Rhine Euregion, where the three countries intersect, the national borders may provide opportunities to outlaw bikers while at the same time limiting authorities in their response. In examining the role of the border, this book deals with the history of OMCGs and the responses in each country, the authorities involved in the response, and contemporary problems in the Meuse Rhine Euregion.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 20/06/2022

Anna Goldberg, Blaming the Addicted Brain. Building Bridges between Criminal Law and Neuroscientific Perspectives on Addiction

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. D.R. Roef; Dr. K. de Kogel (WODC)

ABSTRACT:

Addiction is pervasively present within the criminal justice sector, requiring legal professionals to deal with addicted defendants on a regular basis and having to assess the influence of addiction on responsibility. Yet, the precise conceptualization of addiction has been a topic of discussion for centuries, resulting in difficulties in addressing addiction-related crime in court. Over the last decades, addiction has increasingly been conceptualised as a brain disease, which arguably could alter the law’s current approach towards the criminal liability of addicted defendants. In this thesis, an overview of the different ways of conceptualising addiction is provided, before applying this knowledge onto both the legal framework of Dutch criminal law, and to more universal legal concepts. As such, the compatibility of concepts such as intent, premeditation, insanity, diminished responsibility and prior fault, with potentially impaired capacities stemming from addiction, is critically examined. After assessing the ‘law in the books’, the second half of the dissertation contains an evaluation of the ‘law in action’. This encompasses the role of addiction in case files, the presence of neuroscientific information in cases of addicted defendants, its influence on legal decision-making, and experiential accounts of legal professionals. Combining normative, comparative and experimental designs, this thesis does not only analyse some of the complexities of addiction in the context of criminal justice, but also contributes to the growing practice of interdisciplinary and empirical (neuro)legal research.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 21/04/2022

Claire Boost, Examining the legitimisation activities adopted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in order to further its mandate.

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. Mr. A.H. Klip; Dr. Mr. C.A.R. Moerland  

ABSTRACT: This research examines the role of legitimacy in transitional justice, specifically focusing on the response - the legitimisation activities - of the ICTR, when its own legitimacy was called into question. These legitimisation activities in turn provide information regarding the Tribunal’s priorities over the years, and how they relate to its (long-term and short-term) mandate.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 11/03/2022

Jan van Manen, De Videoreconstructie in het Strafproces: van verbeelding naar juridische werkelijkheid

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. J.M. Nelen; Dr. Mr. D.L.F. de Vocht 

ABSTRACT:

From the start of a criminal investigation various reconstruction methods are applied to get clarity about 'the true facts' of the investigated event. One of these methods is video reconstruction, whereby the event is re-enacted at the original location and under as many identical circumstances as possible by and at the direction of suspects and witnesses. The course of this reconstruction is recorded audiovisually and the result is then used by the judge, the prosecution and/or the defence. The central question in The Video Reconstruction in Criminal Proceedings is what contribution the video reconstruction makes to finding the truth in the criminal procedure and how this contribution can be optimised. The focus is on the legitimacy and reliability of the video reconstruction.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 08/11/2021

Nkansah Anakwah, Considering the native land of witnesses: Cultural influences on memory reports

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. P.J. van Koppen; Prof. Dr. L. Hope (University of Portsmouth); Dr. R. Horselenberg

ABSTRACT:

Information obtained from eyewitnesses is an important piece of evidence in criminal investigations. In an era of increased migration and globalisation, investigative and legal practitioners inevitably handle eyewitness memory reports obtained in cross-cultural contexts. Obtaining eyewitness memory reports in cross-cultural settings can be challenging if insight into culturally determined reporting norms is limited. This programme of research examined the potential role culture plays in shaping eyewitness accounts. The programme of research is the first to comprehensively examine cultural differences in the content and nature of eyewitness memory reports. In a series of experiments, eyewitness memory reports of individuals socialised in sub-Saharan African cultures and Western European cultures were examined. The research shows witnesses with sub-Saharan African background are less elaborative in their eyewitness accounts than witnesses socialised in Western European cultures. Findings are discussed with respect to culturally determined reporting norms of the witness.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 21/09/2021

Enide Maegherman, Facilitating Falsification in Legal Decision-Making: Problems in Practice and Potential Solutions

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. P.J. van Koppen; Dr. R. Horselenberg

ABSTRACT:

It is believed that tunnel vision is an important factor in miscarriages of justice. Tunnel vision can be described as an excessive focus on information or evidence that confirms your theory, while paying less attention to evidence that contradicts it. Furthermore, it also increases the tendency to interpret information in such a way that it confirms your theory.

This thesis researched the role of falsification in legal decision-making. Namely, how judges consider exonerating evidence and alternative scenarios. This was researched in practice through a survey, interviews, and a case study. The researcher also conducted experimental studies to determine whether the use of falsification can be increased through changing the order of evidence presentation, changing the instruction to explain the decision, or training to focus on falsification. The findings suggested that judges understand the need for falsification, but struggle to apply it in practice. Based on the experimental data, it appeared law students have more of a focus on alternative scenarios than suggested by research with members of the general public.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 14/01/2021

David Bamps, De Dashboardsamenleving: Van Improvisatie tot Providere

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. J.M. Nelen; Dr. Mr. C.A.R. Moerland 

ABSTRACT:

Throughout history there’s been a search for a moral compass, but a definitive one has never been found. That could change. Humans are no longer alone on the playing field but are surrounded by new star players: artificial intelligence and robotics. Herein appear the contours of a new type of society.

The dashboard society is a hypothetical form of society in which every citizen has a dashboard at their disposal to help them be prudent and proactive—an asset in the time of corona in which the idea of a data-driven society is gaining strength. After emergence, conscience can acquire a digital voice in the form of a transhuman consciousness and install a ‘diagonal morality’ that connects between what citizens prefer horizontally and what is desirable at a higher level vertically. Not ‘Big Brother’ but ‘Little Sister’. It offers a solution to some classical normative problems, but is certainly not a panacea.

Any kind of foresight has a downside. When the cloud of data is unlocked and social order becomes predictable to some extent, a calamity could spread across the world in the form of seven unprecedented moral dilemmas and one utopia.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 18/11/2020

Alejandra de la Fuente Vilar, A Broken Tandem: Understanding Lack of Witness Cooperation in the Interview Room

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. P.J. van Koppen; Prof. Dr. L.A. Strömwall (University of Gothenborg) ; Dr. R. Horselenberg; Dr. S. Landström (Gothenburg University)  

ABSTRACT:

Some witnesses of crime do not want to cooperate with the police during the police investigation, and their participation is not obligatory. However, witness statements are critical to advance police investigations and deliver justice. This PhD research focuses on the promotion of cooperation during witness interviews.
Based on police interviews with crime witnesses in the Netherlands and a survey of criminal investigators in the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, the findings indicate deficiencies in the application of evidence-based witness interviewing techniques, which may be exacerbated when witnesses are uncooperative with the police. Lack of witness cooperation was also found to be detrimental to accurate disclosure of information. Altogether, these effects call into question the validity of witness statements used in criminal investigations and proceedings. Further research, interviewing training, and policies are needed to reduce lack of witness cooperation and to secure the best witness evidence.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 14/10/2020

Hannah Brodersen, Longer than Life: How the ICTY Strengthened the Rule of Law in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. Mr. A.H. Klip; Prof. Dr. E. Versluis (FASoS)

ABSTRACT:

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was set up in 1993 in order to prosecute crimes committed during the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. Although its mandate was limited to that of a criminal court, the Tribunal aimed at strengthening the rule of law in the countries under its jurisdiction.

This dissertation examines in what respect the ICTY had an impact on the Bosnian and Serbian criminal justice systems and finds that it influenced national war crimes institutions, domestic criminal legislation and jurisprudence, witnesses’ and victims’ matters, and the use of technology in criminal proceedings. This influence contributed to the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

The research helps in understanding the domestic impact of international institutions and can guide practitioners in setting up and operating international war crimes courts.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 08/10/2020

Joshua Sitompul, Cross-border Access to Electronic Evidence: Improving Indonesian Law and Practice in Investigating Cybercrime

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. Mr. A.H. Klip; Dr. F.O. Raimondo  

ABSTRACT:

The success of many cybercrime investigations depends on the accessibility of electronic evidence (e-evidence) stored abroad. Whereas cybercrime knows no frontiers and cyberspace remains an un-territorialised realm, a State has territorial boundaries. Indonesia and many other States have attempted to resolve problems of cross-border access in obtaining e-evidence from cyberspace. This book investigates aspects of international law, criminal procedure law, and data protection law as foundations in improving Indonesian law and practice to resolve the problems. It presents pragmatic approaches on how a State may exercise sovereignty in cyberspace to obtain e-evidence located abroad and remain respectful of other States’ sovereignty. The book analyses the implementation of the Budapest Convention in facilitating its parties to obtain e-evidence expeditiously through direct cooperation with service providers. It explores options in establishing a direct cooperation mechanism between US corporations and Indonesian authorities. This book is relevant for academics, policymakers, and practitioners from Indonesia and other States who are looking for practical insights or legal solutions in resolving issues of cross-border access to e-evidence.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 24/06/2020

Renan Benigno Saraiva, The Role of Metamemory in Eyewitness Testimony

SUPERVISORS: Prof. Dr. L. Hope (University of Portsmouth) ; Dr. R. Horselenberg; Prof. Dr. P.J. van Koppen

ABSTRACT:

Estimating eyewitness memory accuracy is crucial in forensic settings, given the need for efficient investigations and the negative consequences of erroneous testimony. In fact, mistaken identifications of innocent suspect have contributed to numerous miscarriages of justice, which often results in many years of innocent lives spent in prison.

Eyewitness psychology research has established that eyewitness memory is not a permanent record of perceived events and may be tainted by a number of different factors. Witnesses' recollections of important facts not only deteriorate over time but can also be negatively distorted by new information introduced after the original experience. In this thesis, the overarching goal of the research was to test the utility of metamemory assessments as postdictors of eyewitness performance. Metamemory research is essential for a comprehensive understanding of how people use and perceive their own memory, but it has not yet been thoroughly explored in eyewitness settings.

In six experiments, we provide new findings that help elucidate the relationship between metamemory and eyewitness accuracy, confidence, and over/underconfidence in forensic settings. More specifically, we investigate how self-ratings of memory ability relate to eyewitness performance in identification and free recall contexts. These experiments provided initial evidence that some metamemory factors are important indicators of eyewitness identification accuracy and confidence. It has also been found that eyewitness-specific metamemory factors are predictive of identification accuracy for both biased and unbiased lineups. We summarize the main findings of this novel line of research, presenting the challenges and prospects facing future eyewitness metamemory research.

DATE OF DEFENSE: 19/05/2020