Belgium

There has not been much sociolegal research in Belgium outside of the area of criminal justice, particularly as conducted by centers for criminology. Belgium has been a constitutional monarchy since its independence in 1830. Originally a unitary state, it has gradually become a complex federal state due to cultural and economic differences and conflicts between the Flemish (Dutch-speaking) north and the Walloon (French-speaking) south. In the 1993 constitutional reform, the first article of the constitution was modified to read: “Belgium is a Federal State that consists of Communities and Regions.” The three communities are the Flemish Community, comprising the Flemish provinces and the Dutch-speaking population of Brussels; the French Community, composed of the French-speaking inhabitants of Brussels; and the Walloon provinces, with the exception of some villages in the province of Liège, which constitute the German-speaking Community.

The three regions have fixed geographical borders: the Flemish Region has five northern provinces; the Walloon Region has five southern provinces; and Brussels, or the Capital Region, coincides with the 19 bilingual (Dutch and French) communes in Brussels. This cultural diversity should provide a useful setting for interesting sociolegal work.

Since November 24, 1991 (“Black Sunday”), when the political right obtained victory in the elections, accentuating insecurity in its campaign, the fear of crime has become an important issue on the political agenda. This has made more funds available for criminological research. In August 1996, the news media seriously questioned the functioning of the entire criminal justice system in Belgium for its response to the Marc Dutroux case. Dutroux, a convicted pedophile and murderer and supposed leader of an international child pornography and prostitution ring, terrorized the city of Charleroi, in Walloon.

The incompetence of the police and prosecutors led to a profound reform of the police in 1998. An integrated police force organized at two levels, namely, a federal police and a local police, replaced the former communal police force, gendarmerie, and judiciary police force. The inattention to victims of crimes became another theme of interest. At all stages of the criminal justice system, new initiatives were taken for victims in the mid-1990s. For instance, victims now have rights that are more elaborate during criminal investigations, and they can be heard prior to a decision concerning the conditional release of offenders. Prison overcrowding, alternatives to imprisonment, and juvenile justice have also remained themes of interest for many criminologists.