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.

In eleven experiments in Dutch prisons case managers, probation officers and municipality-counselors work together to realize sustainable, integral, continuous reintegration trajectories for detainees. Results show that physical presence of the probation officers in prison improved quick and regular consultation with case managers and other professionals in prison, availability of more and broader information about the detainee, and better preparation for life after prison. Facilitators who supported working and learning together contributed to the co-creation of a new way in organizing the reintegration process in prison. This kind of co-creation requires manpower and resources.

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.

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’.

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 the Netherlands, the behavior-influencing and freedom-restricting measure (GVM) came into effect on 1 January 2018. The purpose of this measure is to enable long-term, if necessary, lifelong monitoring of perpetrators of sexual and serious violent crimes with a high risk of recidivism. The probation service advises on imposition and implementation of the measure. This article describes results of a small scale study on arguments that are used in practice to advise the GVM. The central question is whether the legislator provides probation officers with sufficient tools for substantiated advice to the court.

In the Dutch public debate on honour-based violence on a regular basis this question is raised: should a special article be introduced for criminalising honour-based violence? However, it is striking that in this debate until now not much attention has been paid towards the different roles of family members in these violent conflicts. The main focus has always been on the so-called ‘material offender’, i.e. the offender that commits or threatens to commit a violent act. But what about family members that play a role in instigating this violence, the so-called ‘intellectual offenders’? In this article it is stated that in the Dutch context we should focus less on the introduction of new articles for punishing honour-based violence in the penal code and make better use of already existing laws and legal framework for addressing these severe violent acts.

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.

In the Netherlands, domestic violence cases are often heard in criminal court by a single judge. In these cases usually the family is usually confronted with multiple problems related to divorce or separation, child protection issues, financial problems, psychological problems or addiction and aggression problems that can lead to various legal proceedings with different judges. The District Court of Rotterdam has started a pilot ‘integrated approach to domestic violence’. In this paper results of the pilot evaluation are presented in relation to recent developments of the judiciary to focus on effective problem solving courts.

Does a better quality of arguing by a criminal judge why he/she metes out a certain punishment enhance the public’s understanding and endorsement of criminal verdicts? A sample of 235 Dutchmen got presented two verdicts in a within person design, one with a well motivated meting out of punishment, one with a defective motivation. Subjects reported on understanding and endorsement. Better motivated verdicts turn out to be better understood and are more endorsed.

The Dutch Supreme Court has the power to destroy a penal condition if a lower court imposes those conditions contrary to the law. Problems may arise when the Supreme Court solely destroys the condition. In that case there is no longer an imposed condition, which can be contrary to the meaning of the lower court. It can even derogate the imposed sentence, whilst the convicted is not obligated to conform to those conditions. That problem can – in extreme cases – harm society. Even so can be said that those decisions of the Supreme Court are not in favor of the convicted.

Prisoner’s agency is often marginalized in the Dutch history of the prison. This article concretizes how inmates could influence their own lives and the prison system in the first half of the nineteenth century. By focusing on interaction as an indicator of agency, it is possible to go beyond the traditional analysis of agency as a form of resistance. A multidimensional perspective, in which attention is paid to resistance, negotiation and cooperation enlightens the diversity in which prisoners’ agency is expressed. In this way, this article aims to disprove the persistent stereotype of the powerless prisoner in the historiography of the Dutch prison.

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.