Crime and Criminal Policy

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Crime and Criminal Policy provides a comprehensive exploration of the fundamental concepts, theories, and contemporary issues surrounding crime and criminal justice policy. It focuses on the interaction between criminal law, society, and governance and considers how laws and policies are created, implemented, and adapted in response to crime. Students will analyze the social, political, and legal dimensions of crime control and prevention and examine the effectiveness, fairness, and consequences of criminal justice policies.

The challenging course requires students to think outside the box and, in addition to the application of legal methods, the course will explore criminological, social-scientific, and empirical methods. Behavioral theories, crime statistics, and various disciplines such as victimology and penology form an integral part of the endeavor to achieve a deeper understanding of crime and criminal policy. The focus, however, of the course is legal, and each session is complemented by a case study to stimulate discussion and give students the opportunity to train their argumentation skills and demonstrate their intellectual abilities. The course is designed around a series of lectures on a wide range of criminal law topics, given by various members of the Department of Criminal Law at Maastricht University. Students will gain an insight into the research activities of the department, meet some of the department's finest scholars, and be brought up to date on current debates in crime policy, criminal justice, and criminological research in the Netherlands, Europe, and the world.