NCJ Number
187252
Journal
Judicial Explorations Volume: 26 Issue: 5 Dated: June/July 2000 Pages: 36-44
Date Published
2000
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the evolution of intimate relationships and the criminal code of Dutch society on domestic violence and the penalization of stalking.
Abstract
In the last three decades the culture of the Dutch society, including the criminal justice system, has changed from feminine to masculine-feminine, whereas feminine codes of conduct became dominant in intimate relationships. The feminization of intimacy and the related criminalization of domestic violence are discussed in the frame of Sellin’s concept of culture conflict. The collective culture conflict of the seventies has boiled down to present-day individual or personal norm conflicts. It is argued that the recent penalization of stalking is a logical consequence of the earlier criminalization of intimate violence and that it is an outstanding example of the masculine-feminine culture of the penal system: the victim is “taken care of” by punishing the offenders. It is to be expected that stalking by ex-partners, as produced by separation and divorce, will disappear as the younger generation, in particular the males, learn from their parents’ problems by developing autonomy.