Detention plays a central role in our criminal justice system, with one of its goals being to prevent recidivism. However, high recidivism rates raise questions about the effectiveness of detention.
Franziska Yasrebi-de Kom’s doctoral research provides new insights into how detainees experience detention and how these experiences influence their behavior during incarceration and after release. The findings suggest that more humane detention conditions contribute to reduced misconduct during detention and lower recidivism rates afterward.
Perceived Sanction Severity
Prison sentences in the Netherlands are often seen as lenient and prisons are compared to hotels. However, Yasrebi-de Kom demonstrates that detainees generally perceive detention as strict, severe, and punitive. This perception is primarily due to the loss of freedom. Factors such as limited access to goods like books, television, or toiletries, and a lack of autonomy due to rigid daily schedules, further intensify this feeling.
At the same time, these severe perceptions of sanctions do not appear to reduce misconduct during detention or recidivism after release. On the contrary, the perception of sanctions as severe is associated with higher levels of misconduct.
Perceived Fair Treatment
In contrast, personal interactions with prison staff play a crucial role. When detainees perceive staff as respectful, neutral, and helpful, they view their treatment as fairer. This perception of fairness is linked to positive detainee behavior: during detention, fair treatment correlates with less misconduct, and afterwards, it aligns with the intention to desist from committing crimes.
Perceived severity of punishment and perceived fair treatment have opposite effects on detainee behavior. This needs to be considered when developing and implementing effective policies.
Inter-Relation Between Sanction Severity and Treatment
Perceived sanction severity and perceived treatment seem closely linked. For instance, when prison staff show interest in a detainee’s well-being by engaging in informal conversations, detention is often perceived as more bearable. Conversely, when detention conditions are perceived as unnecessarily harsh, the experience is seen as less humane. Such conditions, in turn, contribute to detainees feeling less fairly treated by prison staff.
This suggests that policies focusing on fair treatment are more likely to succeed if detention conditions are not unnecessarily harsh.
Conclusion
Policies aimed at creating detention conditions and treatment perceived as humane and fair are likely to benefit detainees, prison staff, and society as a whole. Expanding daily programs during detention and creating more opportunities for informal, positive interactions between prison staff and detainees are strongly recommended.
Franziska Yasrebi-de Kom will defend her dissertation on February 3 at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
You can attend the defense by registering via this form. Alternatively, you can watch the defense online via the VU Amsterdam YouTube livestream.
You can find the dissertation via the following link.
Also check out IN PRESS magazine, a magazine based on the dissertation.