Author: Lara Bergers, ERC Consolidator project 'Forensic Culture. A Comparative Analysis of Forensic Practices in Europe, 1930-2000', Universiteit Utrecht (Utrecht University)

Abstract: »That forensic practices can have their own dynamics comes to the fore in the chapter by Lara Bergers too. Bergers contrasts forensic medical practice in Dutch cases of sexual assault to medico-legal writings and thereby takes issue with common understandings in the historiography on rape regarding the distrust of the victims' testimonies and the importance of medical expertise. Qualifying the Dutch culture regarding the prosecution of sexual crimes in the period 1930-1960 as 'a culture of testimony', Bergers points to the absence of a jury, the slow professionalisation of defence attorneys and the lack of interest in witness psychology as factors that explain its features, but also warns that these do not automatically hold true for other types of crimes. Importantly, a forensic culture may thus only be functioning as such for specific crimes, not necessarily for a national system of criminal justice.« (Source: Ruberg, Willemijn. »Introduction.« Forensic cultures in modern Europe. Edited by Willemijn Ruberg et al. Manchester 2023: p. 16)

Contents:

	Introduction (p. 49)
	Internationally circulated ideas about the reliability of witnesses (p. 52)
	Making sense of dismissals (p.54)
	The curious absence of doctors (p. 56)
	Trusting witnesses (p. 57)
	Calling victims into doubt? (p. 58)
	Confessions (p. 62)
	Conclusion: A culture of testimony? (p. 63)
	Notes (p. 66)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of the Netherlands / History of the Netherlands (1900-present) | Sex and the law: Rape / Rape in the Netherlands