Biography
Title of research: The Government and Citizens in Criminal Investigations: A Joint Effort?
Promotor: Prof. F.W. Bleichrodt
In this research, a combined legal and psychological perspective will be taken to investigate the changing role of citizens in criminal investigations. The general public is increasingly called upon by the government to do its fair share in criminal investigations. This shifting role of citizens is reflected by television programmes and by Internet web pages that request information on criminal cases. The question arises as to whether the Criminal Procedure Act has kept pace with this development, or whether this development has placed citizens' investigations in a legal limbo. From a legal perspective, it is unclear to what extent the responsibility of criminal investigation can be allotted to citizens, since the Criminal Procedure Act labels criminal investigations as an exclusive government task. It follows from this that the government should endorse the role of citizens with restraint.
This research links the responsibilities of the government with the role of citizens in criminal investigations. A crucial responsibility of the government in criminal law is ensuring quality of investigations, and this responsibility has consequences for the relationship between the government and citizens. For instance, a criminal investigation is surrounded with many safeguards to ensure a reliable and sound investigation. At the same time, citizens are increasingly activated by the government to contribute to criminal investigations. Thus, it is expected that citizens be critically selected and closely monitored, since much relies on their statements. Surprisingly, this aspect has gained little interest over the years. In practice, reliability comes down to fact-checking and impressions, whilst objective tools are necessary to measure reliability. The famous Dutch 'Passagezaak', in which the star witness gave an unreliable impression, demonstrates that objective assessment tools are greatly needed. This research will provide such tools - for instance, by creating a questionnaire that measures the credibility of a potential contributor in criminal investigations. This study aims therefore to place the changing role of citizens' investigations in a combined legal and psychological perspective.Eelco studied psychology (2010) and criminal law (2012, cum laude) at Erasmus University Rotterdam. During his studies, he worked both as a student-assistant in the Criminal Law department and as a clerk for the court in Rotterdam. In September 2012, he started a PhD research project on the role of citizens in criminal investigations.
More information
Work
- EM Moerman (2016) - Inburgeren in de opsporing. Over de juridische positie van de burger in de opsporing van strafbare feiten - [link]
- EM Moerman (2015) - De positie van de bijstand door burgers in de herziening van de bijzondere opsporingsbevoegdheden - Delikt en Delinkwent, 45 (5), 363-372
- Sven Bakker, EM Moerman, Barbara Salverda & Joost Nan (2015) - Haat en liefde in het recht. Bundel seminar de Jonge NJV 2015
- EM Moerman & Paul Mevis (2013) - De Novelle Cort van der Linden en zijn betekenis voor de discussie over enige actuele aspecten van materieel strafrecht - Delikt en Delinkwent, 43 (7), 442-465
- Edwin Bleichrodt & EM Moerman (2013) - Enkele vormen van private bijdragen aan de opsporing belicht - Ars Aequi, 62 (07/08), 566-573
- Beatrijs Volker & EM Moerman (2013) - Nodig of overbodig? Een verkenning van de gedragsaanwijzing van de officier van justitie (artikel 509hh Sv)
- Katinka Dijkstra & EM Moerman (2012) - Effects of modality on memory for original and misleading information. - Acta Psychologica, 140 (1), 58-63
