The duration of conditional release has changed from one third of the prison sentence to a maximum of two years. One goal of this alteration was to increase credibility and legitimacy of prison sentences. This experimental study focuses on whether the new system improves this as compared to the previous situation. Results show that sentences based on the new system don’t receive higher valuation from Dutch citizens than sentences based on the old system. Therefore, an important reason for the change isn’t supported by our findings. Rather, what remains is a system riddled with objections and possible negative effects for prisoners and society.

Following the example of ‘teen courts’ in the US, recently some schools in the Netherlands are experimenting with this. It means that pupils adjudicate justice on fellow pupils as a result of mildly undesired behavior. However, this approach is not well thought out in several respects and it poses a risk to the children involved.

In Dutch criminal law, there are certain options to impose financial measures on convicted persons having financial problems. In these cases, the probation service supervises (the approach to) their financial problems. However, concrete financial measures are often not included in the judgment. In this article, we discuss how information about financial problems is collected and demonstrate several obstacles and considerations for advising and imposing financial measures. The results indicate that there is generally little consideration for financial problems in the sentencing phase, which makes it difficult to obtain sufficient information on financial problems before the imposition of a sentence. In order to adequately support the financial problems of (ex-)offenders, more attention and knowledge for financial problems in all levels of the criminal justice system, effective supervision and clear intervention programs are vital.

Though the position of victims of crime in criminal proceedings has improved on paper, it is claimed within both the academic as the legal community that realization of victims’ rights is inadequate. In this exploratory research, a broad group of (legal) professionals was systematically questioned on this matter. They were asked whether and where compliance with victims’ rights is lacking, and how this comes about in their view. Although much has improved, it appears that compliance by the authorities is not yet self-evident and fundamental mechanisms in the criminal justice system appear to hinder the realization of rights for victims.

Previous research has shown that gruesome evidence influences guilt decisions. Several scholars have put forward that the emotional response to gruesome evidence drives this effect. The current systematic review aims to critically scrutinize the current literature on this underlying emotion mechanism, by reviewing studies on the potential mediating role of emotion. A synthesis of the literature suggests that specific emotions have different effects: disgust shows a mediating effect, fear and sadness do not, whereas the effect of anger is inconsistent. The question remains whether an emotional effect is desirable in the courtroom. Recommendations for future research and the legal practice are made.

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.

We are witnessing a remarkable trend in the youth crime in the Netherlands. A spectacular crime drop is accompanied by growing concerns about the serious nature of youth crimes and young people on a pathway to become hardened criminals at an early age. In this article, we focus on the rise of young offenders in organized drug crime in the Netherlands. We describe some of the features of these young offenders, highlighting their intelligent, strategic and professional behavior. Furthermore, we signal the development and the (territorial) violence of the (youth) groups these young offenders are usually embedded in. In light of these developments, we argue that there is a need for more specialism amongst law enforcement and judicial authorities to identify and deal with these young and potential serious criminals.

Suspects with a Mild Intellectual Disability (hereafter: MID) are over-represented in the criminal justice system. Is the right to a fair trial of these vulnerable suspects sufficiently guaranteed in the modernized Dutch Code of Criminal Procedure? To this end, it is first of all important that the MID is recognized by legal professionals in the criminal justice system. In this way, the suspect with an MID can be treated and interrogated in the right way, which can, for example, prevent making a false statement. Secondly, it is important that the compensatory and remedial measures that professionals may take according to the modernization are clarified. The professionals should know in which phase of the criminal proceeding they should apply certain measures. Finally, the question arises whether the addition of a lawyer is the most important measure to compensate the suspect with an MID for his disability.

Scientific studies have shown the effect of social crises on the nature and magnitude of domestic violence. Since the beginning of 2020 we are facing a worldwide corona pandemic. There is a widespread fear that the measures as a consequence of this pandemic have led to a significant increase in domestic violence. In this study news reports on the assumptions about the effect of the pandemic on domestic violence were inventoried. Subsequently, an overview was made of current empirical research projects on the assumed effect on domestic violence. The methodological aspects and the preliminary results of these studies are discussed.

Part of the new legislation to reform the Dutch conditional release system contains a substantial expansion of the list of individualised conditions under which sentenced prisoners can be released early. These include a prohibition on settlement in a certain area, travelling abroad and on certain voluntary work, an obligation to move and the compensation of damage caused by the offense. These additional individualised conditions have significant implications on the specific character of the conditional release system, the legal protection of offenders, and the ratio between the conditional release system and the already existing conditional measure with regard to serious violent and sex offenders.

A revision of the Dutch vice law is to be expected, amongst others with regard to sex between minors. The current standard requires such contacts to be in violation with the social view, indicating that the minor’s perspective is subdue to the majority opinion. Applying the legal standard of ‘indeceny’ (‘ontuchtig’), the judiciary are left with room for interpretation. In order to grant minors more sexual autonomy and to further legality, the legislator wants to change the criterion, opting for the standard of ‘other than in an equal relationship’. This begs the question whether this will solve the interpretive issues that flow from such open criteria. In order to predict whether the standard of ‘other than in an equal relationship’ will contribute to clarify the issues of legality, the jurisprudence with regard to the standard of ‘indecency’ was analyzed in order to learn which variables are applied by the magistracy.

In 1932 the court room of the Juvenile Judge in Amsterdam was redesigned and this work was marked as 'spadework'. In 2021 in a joined project of law student and art students ‘Design of Justice’ a concept for a court room of the future is developed. Again 'spadework'? In this article the author reflects on this and other current developments in the field child-friendly justice in criminal youth cases.

In 1981, PROCES published its first article on the criminal justice system in a pluriform or multicultural society. That article turned out to be the first of many articles on so-called cultural offences, like honour related violence and female genital mutilation, and the ways in which the criminal justice system could and should respond to these offences. This article reviews the various articles written on these topics for the past forty years and tries to finds an answer why it was that authors choose PROCES to publish their articles.

In 1985 the Second International Congress on (Prison) Abolitionism took place. The organizers wanted to denounce the formalistic-legal approach to crime and revise the criminal pretensions. The aim was to develop a non-repressive process of conflict regulation. This contribution addresses the question of whether or to what extent the development of restorative justice in recent decades is an extension of the abolitionist perspective. Among other things, the developments in punishment and restorative detention and restorative justice in The Netherlands are discussed. It is concluded that restorative justice in a broad sense- and the introduction of small-scale, tailor-made detention are a realistic, at this time appropriate continuation of the efforts to find solutions for resolving conflicts outside criminal law.

This article examines how the enforcement of dog biting incidents takes place in the Netherlands. Enforcement can be carried out using both criminal and administrative law. This practice is discussed, as well as where the bottlenecks in enforcement practice are. Finally, proposals are made to improve present practices.

In law enforcement animal assisted interventions have become popular. Unfortunately in evaluation studies often animal welfare is not included. The question rises to what extent this work might be harmful for participating animals and what alternatives we may offer. In this contribution we describe how robots have been introduced and are being used in the world of care. Might robots be a good alternative for animal participation in risky situations in law enforcement? We conclude by raising a number of pertinent questions for further research.

This article is a summary of the recently published study of Defence for Children - ECPAT: Sentencing of Sexual Exploitation of Minors: an analysis. The aim of the research was to provide insight into the penalties imposed in 2015-2019 in cases involving the sexual exploitation (human trafficking) of child victims. Another aim was to gain a better understanding of how the sentence was determined. A total of 145 convictions were analysed. This article first describes (the reason for) the research. Subsequently, the crime of human trafficking is briefly discussed. The findings of the analysis are then presented in a summarized version. Finally, the conclusion and recommendations follow.

The victim’s position in Dutch criminal law has been strengthened. There has been an emancipation of the victim in criminal law. However, not much attention is being paid on the role and position of the victim in the Dutch administrative procedure. This article explores the scope of what is called ‘Administrative victimology’. Administrative victimology is an empirical science that deals with the position and legal role of the victim in the administrative procedure. It is expected that this ‘new’ type of victimology will become more important in the years to come.

In 2014, the Dutch government abolished its ban on blasphemy, which had laid dormant in its criminal code for decades. Similar laws have been abolished in nine other jurisdictions in the West since an international campaign to this end started in 2015. This article first describes the tension between blasphemy laws and the freedom of expression. It then examines the Dutch position on blasphemy in its international context. This article argues against bans on blasphemy and specifically against a potential reintroduction of a de facto ban on blasphemy in the Netherlands. Moreover, it argues in favour of applying political pressure to abolish bans on blasphemy around the world as well as giving diplomatic support to those affected by these laws.

Prison visitation is important for protecting against social isolation during imprisonment. It is also essential for maintaining contacts that are important for life in prison and after release. It is therefore not surprising that both nationally and internationally important policy measures and scientific research have been undertaken on the topic. Nationally, however, limited scientific research is available regarding how many, how often and from whom prisoners receive visits, how visits are experienced and the possible effects of visitation, thus leaving many questions unanswered. Meanwhile, in the past ten years great changes have been made to visitation in Dutch prison policy and practice. Given these recent developments, both scientists and practitioners could benefit from an overview of the current state of affairs of visitation. This article aims to bridge the gap between research, policy and practice by summarizing findings from the Life in Custody study. This study includes a description of how visitation is organized legally, at the policy level and in practice, a thorough review of prior research on visitation and an analysis of the most recent national data on the prevalence and frequency of visitation, while considering important differences between prisoners and prisons.