Title Affiliations Abstract "Erosion of the public nature of criminal law (procedure): a positive evolution?" "Law Enforcement" "Lately, the legal doctrine is beginning to question the pure public or ""governmental"" approach to penal law, in which the offender is held accountable by society, the state or one of their many representatives. The reason for this approach is as follows: the laws or rules, which the offender has infringed, are instated and upheld by society. On the other hand, falling victim to a crime is an entirely private matter: the victim often experiences feelings of fear, loss, incertitude, etc. These emotions pertain strictly to the ""private"" or ""individual"" sphere. Nowadays, this private aspect does indeed influence the penal procedure in many ways. For example, penal (procedural) law often attempts to involve the victim in the proceedings. Is this a good idea?" "Crime & Society: New Challenges" "Lucas Melgaço, Sonja Snacken" Criminology "Research has focused over the last 25 years on a critical analysis of the social phenomena of crime and deviance and of the formal and informal reactions to these phenomena. It developed through three main research areas: penology, juvenile criminology and policing and security. This has resulted in a strong interdisciplinary tradition of theoretical and empirical research into crime phenomena (e.g. persistent juvenile delinquency, sex offences, desistance from crime), societal reactions (e.g. risk or exclusive society, neighbourhood watch initiatives, public attitudes towards crime and punishment) and criminal justice policies and practices (e.g. public and private policing, juvenile justice systems, sentencing and implementation of custodial and non-custodial sanctions for adult offenders)."