Criminal justice in the Netherlands 1970?1980

Abstract

It is hardly a coincidence that criminal justice was redefined in the Seventies with the closing of Tildschrift voor Strafrecht (Criminal Law Review), the appearance of Delikt en Delinkwent (Offence and Delinquent) and the foundation of the Coornhert League. The "old" criminal justice with its emphasis on legal systematics and dogma, its absence of fundamental doubt concerning the justification of its administration, had lost its validity. What is now emphasised is "the assistance of science in the development and reform of criminal law and its administration" [ 11 • For this an interdisciplinary approach is required, and this is in evidence in the composition of the first editorial board of Delikt en Delinkwent: five lawyers, two psychologists, a social worker and a psychiatrist. The Coornhert League, founded on the third of June 1971, also comprises members from different (professional) backgrounds and strives for the reform of criminal law and its administration. Apart from developing its own initiatives, it proposes to pay attention to abuses in policy. In searching for an explanation for this explosion of interest in criminal justice, it is not enough to point to the turbulence of the second half of the Sixties. What is at stake is the renovation of the social order; a renovation which was expected to take place shortly after the Second World War, but was finally advocated by the generation which came to maturity in the Sixties [2]. The nature of the changes which were taking place was difficult to accept for many older people, and so it is not surprising that the confrontation was sharp. Taken by surprise by the vehement social conflicts, the criminal justice system was not always fortunate in its actions and ended up in a manifest "judicial crisis," a crisis of legitimacy. A few remedies were based on old recipes. The anti-riot legislation commission took no heed of the things that were happening around it, proposing, among other things, a means for coercion of non-suspects (1971 report). Ensched6 pointed out the inevitability of criminal justice being in accordance with the "dominant culture" [3]. Other experts attempted to ward off the legitimacy crisis by