What do you build with when trees are scarce and winters are brutal? For hunter-gatherers living in current-day Ukraine some 18,000 years ago, the answer was simple: mammoth bones.

Inaugural lecture

How many men and women die per year at the hands of others? What are the motives behind these killings? Are there as many homicides today as years ago? How can we explain the rise and fall of homicides over time? And: What is the influence of (early) childhood and adolescence on the likelihood to commit…

This study adds nuance to the empirical literature that interrogates the link between exposure to mass violence and post-conflict justice preferences.

On 16 January 2020, Maaike Wensveen defended her thesis 'Eigen haard is goud waard?'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P. Nieuwbeerta and Dr. J.M.H. Palmen.

The goal of this project is to keep a close watch on the developing nature of homicide in the Dutch Caribbean region.

Why does one person radicalize to involvement in terrorist violence within a group-based context, while another engages in this form of violence alone?

Does “putting yourself in the migrant’s shoes” elicit more positive attitudes toward migration? Can perspective-taking – the active consideration of others’ mental states and subjective experiences – help undermine negative stereotypes and prejudice against migrants? We explore these questions in Ecuador,…

Early Medieval Grave Reopenings in the Low Countries

This commentary on the United Nations Convention Against Corruption discusses each provision of the treaty, traces the provisions’ drafting history, and explores their implementation in domestic legal systems.

The Institute of Public Law comprises all areas of public law, with the exception of criminal law, and including labour law.

Published on 26 February 2021.

Intergenerational transmission refers to the complex and dynamic process with which values, ideas and behaviors are transmitted across generations. We are specifically interested in the intergenerational transmission of behaviors and beliefs that might result in harm to the individuals involved or society…

Shining a light on the nefarious netherworlds of espionage, this is the first book to concentrate on the actual techniques and technologies used by early modern spies —from ciphers to counterfeiting, invisible inks to assassination

The authors examine the handling of cybercrime cases by law enforcement officers, focusing on bottlenecks and potential improvements noted by experts in the field.

This project maps the policy of ‘Paz Total’ (Total Peace) and ongoing peace negotiations between non-state armed groups and the government of Colombia under the presidency of Gustavo Petro (2022-2026).

Press freedom in Indonesia is still under pressure, despite the demise of Soeharto’s regime in 1998

Leader in law and technology education and research since 1985.

On 11 October, Amanda Pasma defended the thesis 'Re-entry support from prison-based and community-based professionals'. The doctoral research was supervised by Paul Nieuwbeerta, Hanneke Palmen and Esther van Ginneken.

Leiden University research institutes based in Leiden and The Hague.

Does suffering suffice? Andrei Poama, Assistant Professor at Leiden University, and Paul C. Bauer, research fellow at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research, did an experimental assessment of desert retributivism. Their resulsts were published on April 20 on PLOS ONE.

Marieke Liem en Edwin Bakker have published an article in the Dutch Magazine Criminology. The article tells us the following:

The Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society (VVI) is part of the Leiden Law School.

Jurisprudence

The Regular LL.M. (Public International Law specialization) is taught by lecturers who possess expertise in a wide range of aspects of public international law, including international criminal law, international humanitarian law, international human rights law, the law on peace and security, international…

The VVI courses form part of the wider teaching programme of the Leiden Law School, which offers programmes both at the undergraduate (LLB) and graduate level (LLM, Advanced Studies, PhD). The Institute offers a MSc programme Law and Society: Governance and Global Development which is unique in Europe.…

Doctoral research at Leiden Law School means research at the highest level.

Consensus and harmony or balance and reciprocity?

You will develop an understanding of the interconnectedness between the world economy, international law, justice, war and how peace might become more prevalent.

Vol. V, Sections 1-2

Money laundering, fraud, DNA testing: current affairs is key in this master’s programme. 'Forensische Criminologie' provides specialist expertise related to the criminal justice system - from forensic psychiatry to criminalistics.

The tuition fee depends on a number of factors. We will explain more about the fees on this web page. Read more.

An important component of this master consists of extracurricular activities.

In this article, Bart Schuurman and Sarah Louise Carthy conduct further research into the understanding of the causes of terrorism by assessing differences and similarities between left-, right- and jihadist extremists and terrorists. The article draws on the Analysen zum Terrorismus, one of the most…

Due to its economic prosperity, its policy of (relative) religious tolerance, and its large numbers of migrants, the Dutch Republic has long had a reputation of being the prime example of ‘tolerance’, especially during the seventeenth century. Although the great variety of newcomers in the Dutch Republic…

What are the foundations of the regulation of blasphemy, and in which manner, in legal as well as in extra-legal terms, has blasphemy developed over the last decades?

In this article, Bart Schuurman and Sarah Louise Carthy explore the distinctions between radicalised individuals and the general population

From deepfakes and disinformation to killer robots, surgical robots and AI lawmaking: AI (Artificial Intelligence) is changing our world. That raises the question whether this requires some form of regulation. At eLaw, the Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University, prof. Bart Custers…

Find out what it is like to study at the Faculty of Law. Watch the video below to get an impression of our facilities and our faculty in Leiden and The Hague. Be sure to also take part in our online and on-campus information sessions!

Few events have influenced our global order as intensely as the events of September 11, 2001.

On 30 September 2021 Babette van Hazebroek defended her thesis 'Understanding delinquent development from childhood into early adulthood in early onset offenders'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. J.W. de Keijser and Prof. A. Popma (VUMC).

Miles Kellerman, Assistant Professor at Leiden University, argues in a new article that governments should consider empowering financial crime bounty hunters by creating Licensed Detection Agents to address structural failures in current systems for detecting financial crime.

Leiden is a real student city and has everything you’ll need to turn your time as a student into the time of your life.

My current research focuses on criminality and gender interactions in nineteenth-century Europe. This project uses a comparative methodology to explain gender constructions in a criminal and in a court setting.

On 3 December 2019 Hanna Bosdriesz defended her dissertation on the fight against impunity for grave human rights violations in Latin America.