Migrants who must leave the Netherlands are often detained in Dutch detention centers before their expulsion. Migrant detainees fall under the same criminal laws and authorities as persons incarcerated under Dutch criminal law. This means that migrants can be put in isolation cells, for example for refusing a shared room. This article describes the circumstances in the detention centers, and it makes an analysis of European and Dutch case law on the treatment of migrant detainees, specifically in cases of isolation. Considering articles 3, 5 and 8 ECHR and article 47 of the EU CFR, this is problematic, and access to legal protection seems to be too limited for migrant detainees. The article concludes by stating the necessity for a new legal framework, and for more substantive judicial reviews in cases of the isolation of migrant detainees.

Mede naar aanleiding van de moordzaak tegen Michael P. is een regeling ingevoerd die erin voorziet medische gegevens te verstrekken over een verdachte die weigert mee te werken aan het opstellen van een rapportage door het Pieter Baan Centrum. Via deze regeling kan een behandelaar worden verplicht gegevens zonder toestemming van zijn patiënt te verstrekken. De onafhankelijke Adviescommissie Gegevensverstrekking Weigerende Observandi, heeft in deze wettelijke regeling een zeeffunctie gekregen die eraan bijdraagt dat de inbreuk op het medisch beroepsgeheim zo beperkt mogelijk wordt gehouden. Enkele onderdelen van de weigeraanpak worden in dit artikel aangestipt.

Als gevolg van de coronamaatregelen worden onderzoeken ter zitting soms zo ingericht dat bepaalde procesdeelnemers en publiek de zitting alleen via een videoverbinding kunnen bijwonen. In deze bijdrage wordt onderzocht of en, zo ja, onder welke voorwaarden, het in het algemeen juridisch toelaatbaar is om zittingen op die manier in te richten en of dat ook wenselijk zou zijn. Daarbij worden twee varianten onderscheiden: de volledig digitale zitting – die niet in een zittingszaal plaatsvindt – en de zitting waarbij de rechters en mogelijk ook de officier van justitie in de zittingszaal aanwezig zijn, maar de andere procesdeelnemers de zitting digitaal bijwonen. Na de beantwoording van de onderzoeksvraag worden suggesties gedaan voor een regeling in het gemoderniseerde Wetboek van Strafvordering.

Dit artikel biedt een overzicht van de EncroChat-jurisprudentie, waar de auteurs zich met name richten op de onderzoekswensen van de verdediging. Daarbij worden eerst de details van de EncroChat-operatie uiteengezet. Vervolgens wordt op de bezwaren van de verdediging ingegaan met betrekking tot de rechtmatigheid van de onderzoekshandelingen in de EncroChat-operatie en de onderzoekswensen ten aanzien van de toegang tot de gegevens. Het artikel sluit af met een beschouwing van de bevindingen.

Since 2004, cell sharing in Dutch correctional institutions has increased to nearly 30%. In contrast to many other countries, the use of double cells is a policy measure to cut costs, rather than a measure to deal with overcrowding of correctional institutions. This article examines individuals’ experiences of sharing a cell, and the association between cell sharing, wellbeing, misconduct, and prison climate, using survey data from the Life in Custody Study collected in 2019. The sample comprises 3408 participants (in regular prison regimes, pre-trial detention, and short-stay custody). The results show that most respondents report a good relationship with their cellmate, but still prefer a single cell. There is no evidence for positive effects of cell sharing on the researched domains; some negative effects are found when individuals prefer a single cell or report a poor relationship with their cellmate.

The regular legal framework in the Netherlands stipulates that criminal cases against young adults are dealt with under adult criminal law. In 2014 the maximum age limit for application of juvenile criminal law was raised to 23 years if the suspect or the circumstances of the offence give reason to do so. This so called ‘adolescent criminal law’ is based on the observation that incomplete neuro-psychosocial development can contribute to the continuation of criminal behaviour. There is lack of clarity in the criterion ‘incomplete development’. Different screening instruments are used. Since development continues, it is more meaningful to ask the question whether and to what extent there is a developmental delay, whether the adolescent can and wants to develop further and whether the treatment and interventions from the juvenile criminal law can be helpful in this regard. This calls for a legal principle of ‘juvenile criminal law unless’.

In deze kroniek becommentarieert de auteur een selectie van recente uitspraken van civiele en strafkamers van de Hoge Raad en de gerechtshoven (en een enkele van de belastingkamer), mede aan de hand van de uit de jurisprudentie voortvloeiende regels over het functionele verschoningsrecht. Onder meer de grondslag en het belang van het verschoningsrecht, de omvang en de reikwijdte van het subject en het object van het verschoningsrecht, het afgeleid verschoningsrecht en ‘corpora et intrumenta delicti’ komen aan de orde. De auteur bespreekt verder twee – met name procedurele – aspecten van het verschoningsrecht die in haar optiek nog niet (volledig) zijn uitgekristalliseerd.

De civiele zorgmachtiging als bedoeld in artikel 6:5 Wvggz kan sinds 1 januari 2020 via de schakelbepaling van artikel 2.3 lid 1 Wfz door de strafrechter worden afgegeven in het kader van de strafrechtelijke handhaving van de rechtsorde. Het nieuwe hybride stelsel, op het snijvlak van het strafrecht en civiele recht, vormt een flinke breuk met de oude, vervallen regeling van artikel 37 Sr en de inbedding daarvan in het strafproces. In deze bijdrage wordt ingegaan op enkele knelpunten en onduidelijkheden die dat nieuwe systeem met zich brengt, zoals het overgangsrecht, de aansluiting van de zorgmachtiging op de voorlopige hechtenis en de verhouding tussen de officier van justitie en de strafrechter.

While research has increasingly focused on the role of digitalisation in prisoners’ detention experiences, the impact of the digitalisation of the prison regime on the discretionary power of prison officers has been understudied. By using an ethnographic approach in one digital Belgian prison, qualitative interview data are used to investigate the prison officer’s coping strategies in response to the digitalisation of prison life. It is found that the gatekeeping role of prison officer’s has been partly stripped away but also that the impact of digitalisation on the prison officer’s discretionary power depends on how digital technologies are implemented. Moreover, the study reveals that not all official goals regarding the digitalisation are met and highlights the need of supporting prison officers when implementing new technologies in prison.

In 2020, the Belgian federal Government announced that it will recognize Buddhism as a non-confessional worldview. This recognition will give the Buddhists several privileges: the salaries and pensions of lama’s as well as of Buddhist consultants in prisons, hospitals and the army will be paid for by the state. In addition, state schools will be required to organize Buddhist education at parental request. From the perspective of equal treatment and within the current constitutional framework, the recognition of Buddhism can only be welcomed. But is this constitutional framework, which is amongst others indebted to the concordat between Napoleon and the Holy See (1801), still up to date? In 1983, the Dutch Government abolished this Napoleonic model of state financing and opted for a profound reform of the system. In this article, I will show why such a reform could also be useful and inspiring in the Belgian context.

Life in prison goes hand in hand with far-reaching restrictions in the personal autonomy of offenders. Lack of personal autonomy and the coercion to perform certain actions disrupt the ‘normal’ intrinsic experiences of voluntary action (i.e. sense of agency). Disturbances in the neurocognitive basis of voluntary action have a number of clear effects on human functioning, including self-reliance. This paper provides a first analysis of the relationship between personal autonomy and the intrinsic experience of voluntary action, and how this may be the key to understanding how freedom restrictions in detention can reduce self-reliance.

In recent years scientific interest in various aspects of prison climate has increased exponentially. At first, such research was being initiated and undertaken predominantly within Anglo-Saxon penology but, more recently, research into prison climate is also increasingly taking place elsewhere, including in the Netherlands and Belgium. In this article the authors offer an overview of Dutch and Belgian research on prison climate. They discuss the literature from two broad angles: first, the characteristics of prisons and incarcerated individuals that determine the quality of prison climate; and, second, research on the impact of prison climate on inmates themselves.

Dutch prisons are not exempt from incidents. Despite the negative impact of violence on the safety of inmates and the chances of successful reintegration, not much is known about the prevalence of victimization in Dutch prisons and the characteristics of victims. Additionally, previous research has pointed out the overlap between victim status and offender status. In this contribution, the authors will discuss the prevalence of self-reported victimization among Dutch inmates and the characteristics of victims and victim-offenders. Data from 3,485 participants from the Life in Custody Study are used for this purpose.

Although reward systems are utilized in prisons worldwide, evaluations regarding their intended use are lacking. This contribution reconstructs the policy theory of such a system: Promotion and Demotion, as implemented in Dutch prisons in 2014. With a policy scientific approach the intended target group, means, goals and causal mechanisms of the system were delineated. The policy theory assumes three means, ten goals and 24 causal mechanisms. The policy theory is insufficiently empirically substantiated on a number of points and takes limited account of (cognitively) impaired prisoners. This accurate reconstruction offers a unique insight into the assumed functioning of a part of Dutch detention policy and provides starting points for international considerations of behavioral change in detention.