Category: AAA


Against All Aristocracies

Uncle Tom: his backbone of steel

In Dutch: "The negro cabin"

A different review.A conservative atheist praises “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and glorifies that devout christian lady Harriet Beecher-Stowe. That rather long review: Uncle Tom: his backbone of steel Many years ago I read this book on my e-reader. The danger of burning in on the screen of such an older Kindle is exactly zero, so when… Continue reading Uncle Tom: his backbone of steel

Lies, damned lies, statistics and criminology

Longer texts

Differences in sentencing in similar cases? This Long TEXT was the second non-peer review of the (now defunct) Dutch website ‘Emperors & Clothes’ (Keizers & Kleren). I discussed the article Differences in sentencing in similar cases that appeared in episode 2012-11 of the Dutch Legal Journal (‘Nederlands Juristenblad’ (NJB)). In publishing this English translation, I… Continue reading Lies, damned lies, statistics and criminology

Why exactly no placebo punishments?

Longer texts

In 2009, the Journal of Criminology [A Dutch journal, ‘Tijdschrift voor Criminologie, hence: ‘TVC’ further on] published the article “Recidivism after community service and after prison sentences”. The authors claimed to have demonstrated that offenders reoffend less after community service than after a prison sentence. At the beginning of 2011, the study was the subject… Continue reading Why exactly no placebo punishments?