Biography for Peter van der Laan
Peter van der Laan (1954) has a MA in Special Education (Orthopedagogiek) from Leiden University. He received his PhD from the Law Faculty of the Free University in Amsterdam for a thesis on alternative sanctions for juveniles. He has conducted research concerning criminal justice in general and the impact of (semi-) criminal justice interventions in particular. He has a special interest in issues concerning juveniles.
Between 1981 and 1998 he worked in various positions at the Research and Documentation Centre (WODC) of the Dutch Ministry of Justice. In 1998 and 1999 he was a senior research fellow at the Dartington Social Research Unit in Devon (UK) and a visiting professor social work and probation at the University of Exeter. Since 1999 he is a senior researcher at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law enforcement (NSCR) where he co-ordinates a research programme called 'Life course, crime and intervention'. He is also associate professor of criminology at Leiden University.
He has served as a consultant for the United Nations on juvenile justice issues and as scientific expert for the Council of Europe. He was involved in drafting two Council of Europe recommendations (Implementation of the European Rules on Community Sanctions and Measures (2000) and New Ways of Dealing with Juvenile Delinquency (2003)). He has also participated in numerous juvenile justice missions of the Council of Europe to member states in Central and Eastern Europe.