Gerard Heinrich Veringa (13 April 1924 – 29 December 1999) was a Dutch politician of the defunct

Catholic People's Party The Catholic People's Party ( nl, Katholieke Volkspartij, KVP) was a Catholic Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as a continuation of the Roman Catholic State Party, which was a continuation of ...

(KVP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and criminologist.Dr. G.H. (Gerard) Veringa
''The Montesquieu Institute'' Veringa attended a Gymnasium in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

from April 1936 until May 1942 and applied at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

in June 1945

majoring An academic major is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits. A student who successfully completes all courses required for the major qualifies for an undergraduate degree. The word ''major'' (also called ''conc ...

in Law and obtaining a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree in June 1946 before switching to

Criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...

and

Political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and transferring to the

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in July 1946 before graduating with an

Master of Criminal Justice {{unreferenced, date=April 2014 The Master of Criminal Justice (MCJ) is a postgraduate professional master's degree that is designed as a terminal degree for professionals in the field of criminal justice, criminology, or as preparation for doctor ...

degree and an

Master of Social Science A Master of Social Science (MSocSc, MSSc or MSS) is a master's degree which has a number of different meanings dependent upon the education system in question. Europe In Finland and Sweden, where the university degree nomenclatura is simply bas ...

degree September 1947 and worked as a researcher at the Fordham University before he got an

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

as an

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in Criminology in August 1949. Veringa worked as a civics teacher at

Manhattan College Manhattan College is a private, Catholic, liberal arts university in the Bronx, New York City. Originally established in 1853 by the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Christian Brothers) as an academy for day students, it was la ...

in New York City from September 1948 until December 1949 and worked as a researcher at the University of Groningen from December 1949 until February 1952. Veringa worked as a civil servant for the

Custodial Institutions Agency The Custodial Institutions Agency ( nl, Dienst Justitiële Inrichtingen, , DJI) is responsible for the incarceration of adults in the Netherlands. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Public Safety and Justice. The agency has its headquarters in T ...

of the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

from February 1952 until January 1964 as a prison administrator in Zutphen from February 1952 until October 1955 and a prison administrator in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

from October 1955 until March 1962. Veringa served on the

Municipal Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

Rijswijk Rijswijk (), formerly known as Ryswick ( ) in English, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Its population was in , and it has an area of , of which is water. The municipality also includes th ...

from September 1958 until April 1967. Veringa also worked as a legal advisor for the Ministry of Justice from November 1959 until April 1967 and served as Director-General of the Custodial Institutions Agency from October 1961 until January 1964. Veringa worked as an associate professor of Criminology at the Radboud University Nijmegen from 1 January 1964 until 1 September 1965 and as a professor of

Criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law i ...

and Criminology at the Radboud University Nijmegen from 1 September 1965 until 5 April 1967. After the election of 1967 Veringa was appointed as Minister of Education and Sciences in the Cabinet De Jong, taking office on 5 April 1967. Veringa served as acting Minister of Culture, Recreation and Social Work from 7 January 1971 until 22 February 1971 during a medical leave of absence of Marga Klompé. After the Leader of the Catholic People's Party and Parliamentary leader of the Catholic People's Party in the House of Representatives

Norbert Schmelzer Wilhelm Klaus Norbert Schmelzer (22 March 1921 – 14 November 2008) was a Dutch politician, diplomat and economist who served as Catholic People's Party, Leader of the Catholic People's Party (KVP) from 1963 to 1971 and List of Ministers of Fo ...

unexpectedly announced that he was stepping down as Leader and Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives, the Catholic People's Party leadership approached Veringa as a candidate to succeed him, Veringa accepted and became the Leader of the Catholic People's Party and became the '' Lijsttrekker'' (top candidate) of the Catholic People's Party for the election of 1971, taking office on 25 February 1971. The Catholic People's Party suffered a loss, losing 7 seats and fell back as the second largest party and now had 35 seats in the House of Representatives. Veringa was subsequently elected as a Member of the House of Representatives and as Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives, taking office on 11 May 1971. The following cabinet formation of 1971 resulted in a coalition agreement between the Catholic People's Party, the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

(VVD), the Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP, the Christian Historical Union (CHU) and the Democratic Socialists '70 (DS'70) which formed the Cabinet Biesheuvel I with Veringa opting to remain in the House of Representatives instead of accepting a cabinet post in the new

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

and he continued to serve in the House of Representatives as Parliamentary leader, the Cabinet De Jong was replaced by the new

on 6 July 1971. On 16 August 1971 Veringa took a temporary medical leave of absence as Parliamentary leader but on 28 September 1971 Veringa unexpectedly announced that he was stepping down as Leader permanently but continued to serve in the House of Representatives as a

backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

. In January 1972 Veringa was nominated as Member of the Council of State, he resigned as a Member of the House of Representatives the same day he was installed as a Member of the Council of State, serving from 1 February 1972 until 1 May 1994. Veringa also became active in the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, infra ...

and occupied numerous seats as a nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government ( Council for Culture, Public Pension Funds APB, Cadastre Agency and the Probation Agency). Veringa was known for his abilities as a negotiator and consensus builder. Veringa continued to comment on political affairs until his is death at the age of 75.

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
Dr. G.H. (Gerard) Veringa
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Veringa, Gerard 1924 births 1999 deaths Catholic People's Party politicians Christian Democratic Appeal politicians Commanders of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Commanders of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Criminology educators Dutch criminologists Dutch legal scholars Dutch expatriates in the United States Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch prison administrators Dutch Roman Catholics Dutch sociologists Fordham University alumni Grand Officers of the Order of Leopold II Grand Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Knights of St. Gregory the Great Knights of the Holy Sepulchre Leaders of the Catholic People's Party Manhattan College faculty Ministers of Education of the Netherlands Ministers of Social Work of the Netherlands Ministers of Sport of the Netherlands Members of the Council of State (Netherlands) Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Municipal councillors in South Holland Politicians from Groningen (city) People from Rijswijk Radboud University Nijmegen faculty Scholars of criminal law University of Groningen alumni University of Groningen faculty 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch educators 20th-century Dutch jurists 20th-century Dutch politicians 20th-century Dutch scientists