International Crimes and Criminology (MSc)

Your programme in a nutshell

International Crimes and Criminology deals with international crimes in a broad framework. The focus is on the role of individuals, groups, states and the international community. You will gain insight into the psychology of perpetrators, get acquainted with criminological theories on organisational processes and discuss political issues in the international arena. Subjects like torture, rape and genocide are discussed during class. This can be emotionally demanding, but our ultimate aim is to take a scientific approach to these topics in order to draft measures which might help prevent these types of crimes in the future.

The programme trains students to become both academics and professionals. After finishing the programma, you will be able to objectively assess empirical data and critically comment on theoretical notions on the one hand, and draft policies, develop preventive strategies and do field work on the other. 

International Crimes and Criminology is a one-year, full time programme. It is taught fully in English.

Goals

The goals of this Master’s programme are:

• To measure and map international crimes;
• To define and conceptualize international crimes;
• To map the consequences and measure the costs of international crimes;
• To study the causes of international crimes;
• To analyse ways  to effectively prevent, stop and react to this type of criminality.

The following subjects are covered in the programme:

• The Abu Ghraib scandal;
• The Wave: criminal masterminds and obedient followers;
• Trained to become a torturer: the Greek torture school (1967-1974);
• Crimes of Obedience: Milgram revisited?;
• Modern bureaucracy and Hannah Arendt’s banality of evil;
• The history and political context of the International Criminal Court;
• The Hybrid Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court;
• Collective violence and individual criminal responsibility;
• Command responsibility, superior orders, joint criminal enterprise;
• Case law: Milošević, Taylor, Karadžić.

Courses
The programme consists of five compulsory courses all students need to complete and a choice of several optional courses. You will complete the programme with a Master’s thesis. Your thesis needs to be interdisciplinary in nature and focused on international crimes.

Overview of the compulsory and optional courses for the International Crimes and Criminology programme

Title
The programme leads to the Master of Science (MSc) degree for all students who earn a minimum of 60 credits. Credits are listed according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). This system is based on student workload, which includes hours spent in class, studying, writing papers and completing assignments. A full academic year is equivalent to 60 ECTS credits, one semester to 30 ECTS.

Schedule
The regular academic year in the Netherlands runs from September to June and is divided into a semester system. July and August are holiday months. Remember that all schedules are subject to change!