Neutrality as an Element of Perceived Justice in prison

__Abstract__ In the procedural justice literature, usually four elements are distinguished that are assumed to contribute to the experienced feelings of justice of those who are confronted with the power of the authorities: voice, neutrality, respect & dignity, and trust in the authorities. According to Tyler (2010), the same elements are decisive for the experienced feelings of legitimacy of prisoners and other persons subjected to penal correction. From the general prison literature, however, it becomes clear that besides neutrality and consistency, also individual treatment is an important element of how prisoners perceive legitimacy in prison. Based on the results of a qualitative study of the experiences of Belgian prisoners detained in a Dutch penitentiary the tension between consistency and individuality is defined and further developed. The results of this study can have a broader significance than for the prison field as such, since the tension between individualized treatment and consistency is a topic that has so far been neglected in the procedural justice literature

Pre-trial detention in the Netherlands:Absolutely low, relatively high

In this chapter, we outline Dutch legislation and practice of pre-trial detention. We also elaborate on the findings we collected in the DETOUR project that is introduced in Chapter 1. The findings are still very much relevant today and are complemented by more recent research findings in the area of pre-trial detention in the Netherlands and case law from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Although the absolute number of pre-trial detainees in the Netherlands is low compared to most other European countries, the relative part has remained rather high (between 41% and 49%) in the last ten years. We demonstrate that decision-making in pre-trial detention cases in the Netherlands is driven by a couple of important factors among which legal culture is probably the most important. A preventive approach is leading, based on assumptions about the societal impact of the release of the suspect. Government policy is aimed at an “on-the-spot” approach and the mantra is being “tough on crime”. This causes a climate in which the provisional release of suspects of so-called high impact crimes or repeat offenders is an exception. This legal culture, that is manifest in the policy on the expedited proceedings as well, seems to be deeply institutionalised and has led to a very extensive interpretation of the statutory grounds for pre-trial detention.</p

Salt crystallization dynamics in building rocks: a 4D study using laboratory X-ray micro-CT

We employ laboratory X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT) during climate-controlled salt weathering experiments to acquire data on the kinetics of drying and salt precipitation and the distribution of crystals within the pore space of Mšené sandstone. For that purpose, a custom-designed setup was built at the UGCT’s scanners of the Ghent University Centre for X-ray Tomography (UGCT) that allows to acquire 4D scans while drying. Samples were initially capillary saturated with a saturated NaCl-solution and subsequently dried at 20% RH and at 50% RH, at room temperature. These RH-values are representative for winter and summer conditions for the salt NaCl, which is not temperature sensitive. Different salt precipitation dynamics result in different drying kinetics at the two RH’s. These crystallization and transport dynamics can be directly linked as revealed by the 4D X-ray μCT datasets

The pains of being unauthorized in the Netherlands

Ethnographic fieldwork amongst 105 unauthorized migrants in the Netherlands shows that unauthorized migrants suffer from the pains of being unauthorized. These migrants feel punished and are severely hurt by – amongst others – the deprivation of healthy and secure living conditions, social and geographical mobility and citizenship. These migrants’ pains are caused by current restrictive migration controls, something the Dutch authorities could and should be aware of given previous research that provides similar insights. While the Dutch authorities do provide – the legally required – provisions for unauthorized migrants, we argue on the basis of Hayes’ proximity model that these authorities accept the collateral consequences of (possibly) being subjected to migration controls and purposely inflict these pains on unauthorized migrants. This m

Reconceptualizing Empirical Legitimacy for Situations of Severely Conflicting Social Interests

In this contribution the argument is made that the current operationalization of empirical legitimacy falls short in cases of severely conflicting societal interests where alignment on moral values between conflict resolution authorities (policy makers, courts, controlling institutions) and subordinates is lacking. We attribute this shortcoming to two dominant features of the empirical concept of legitimacy and the research based on it: first, the overwhelming procedural character of the empirical legitimacy concept; second, the dominance of deductive, quantitative survey research. The argument is substantiated by the results of ethnographic fieldwork among unauthorized migrants that show that the existing approaches are important, but insufficient to explain the constitution of legitimacy perceptions of subordinates in this field. Feelings of justice are seriously violated because fundamental substantive needs are insufficiently taken into account according to these migrants, although this does not always mean that they feel badly treated in terms of the current empirical justice concept. In the discussion we reflect on the consequences of these insights for the conceptualization of empirical legitimacy and argue that these insights are not only important for our understanding of empirical legitimacy, but should also lead to a reflection on the (interpretation of the) normative frameworks on which decision-making in this field is built

‘Promoveren en degraderen’ van gedetineerden:Het wetsvoorstel elektronische detentie en de dreigende afschaffing van de detentiefasering

Het wetsvoorstel dat beoogt het huidige systeem van detentiefasering in het Nederlandse gevangeniswezen te vervangen door elektronische detentie (hierna: ‘het wetsvoorstel’) is in april maar nipt door de Tweede Kamer gekomen. Alleen de regeringspartijen en de eenmansfractie Van Vliet stemden voor. Dat maakt debehandeling in de Eerste Kamer spannend; de regeringspartijen hebben hier immers geen meerderheid. Voor de auteurs is dit aanleiding de belangrijkste bezwaren tegen dit voorstel nog eens op een rijtje te zetten. Zij hopen hiermee de Kamerleden ervan te overtuigen dat het wetsvoorstel in zijn huidige vorm geenrecidive-reductie en nauwelijks besparingen oplevert, maar wel de kansen voor een groot aantal gedetineerden om min of meer succesvol terug te keren in de samenleving aanzienlijk vermindert

Creativity and effectiveness in the use of electronic monitoring: a case study of five European jurisdictions

The comparative research project covered current uses of electronic monitoring (EM) 5 jurisdictions in Europe: Belgium, England and Wales, Germany, the Netherlands and Scotland. An extensive literature review was undertaken alongside observations of all aspects of the EM process (75 days in total) and 190 interviews with policy-makers and practitioners involved in the provision of EM

Creativity and effectiveness in the use of electronic monitoring: a case study of five jurisdictions

The use of electronic monitoring (EM) has grown rapidly in the European Union and elsewhere and is likely to continue to do so but knowledge about its operation and its potential to provide a humane, credible and effective alternative to imprisonment is limited. The research on which this report is based was carried out in five jurisdictions in Europe (Belgium, England and Wales, Germany, the Netherlands and Scotland) which deploy EM in different ways and to varying extents facilitating comparative analysis. The research is the first empirical comparative study of electronic monitoring. Its aim was to compare the law, policy and practices in the five jurisdictions focussing particularly on EM&rsquo;s capacity to act as an alternative to custody and to identify best practices to enhance its effectiveness and ensure that EM is used legally, creatively, ethically and humanely