Carlijn van Baak

Dr. Carlijn van Baak is a postdoctoral researcher at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), focusing on criminological research with expertise in bystander intervention, violence dynamics, and gender studies. Her work bridges theoretical criminology with applied research on real-world criminal events, including domestic violence, sexual violence, and policing practices. She holds a PhD from NSCR (2020–2025) and a Master's in Criminal Justice & Criminology (summa cum laude) from Sam Houston State University (2014–2016). She previously worked as a legal officer in Utrecht and a teaching/research assistant in Texas.

Her research emphasizes understanding real-world bystander behavior in public conflicts, analyzing techniques of neutralization in criminal cases, and evaluating the societal impact of policies like pandemic restrictions on domestic violence rates. She pioneered methods like covert systematic social observations to detect ethnic profiling in police stop-and-search practices.

Key research themes include:

• Domestic violence dynamics and intervention strategies
• Social and ethnic biases in law enforcement
• Cultural aspects of honor-based violence and FGM
• Pandemic effects on household violence

Her work combines qualitative and quantitative methods, including video observational studies and large-scale data analysis. She collaborates internationally on projects addressing cyber harassment, capital punishment rhetoric, and gendered marriage practices in African societies.