Jan W. de Keijser

Public support for vigilantism, confidence in police and police responsiveness

This article provides an empirical test of the common assumption that public support for vigilantism is affected by confidence in police. Aside from assessing the role of diffuse (general) confidence in police, we also tested whether police response on a situational level affects how the public views an act of vigilantism. Respondents (N=385) were presented with a vignette about vigilantism. Using an experimental between-subjects design, we varied police responsiveness (high/low) to precipitating crime as well as vigilante violence (high/low). Diffused confidence in police was a significant predictor of support for vigilantism. Additionally, both experimental factors played an important role: low police responsiveness and low vigilante violence led to more support for vigilantism. Citizens are thus sensitive to situational variation when judging a crime. Our findings also emphasise the importance of police action on a local level for the formation of public opinion.

Wrongful convictions and the Blackstone ratio: An empirical analysis of public attitudes

When deciding on the issue of guilt, a judge or jury can make two types of error: convicting an innocent person (false positive) or acquitting a guilty person (false negative). The Blackstone ratio addresses the relation between false positive and false negative verdicts. The ratio depends on how much certainty the judicial decision-maker requires before convicting an accused.This article describes an experimental study of Dutch community views about the Blackstone ratio. It was hypothesized that public views on this issue may depend on seriousness of the offence. Moreover, it is expected that providing balanced information on the consequences of both convicting an innocent and acquitting a guilty person would result in more deliberated and informed public judgement on the Blackstone ratio. We manipulated both the seriousness of the crime and information about the consequences of false positive and false negative verdicts. Findings reveal that public reactions to the criteria for deciding upon guilt or in...When deciding on the issue of guilt, a judge or jury can make two types of error: convicting an innocent person (false positive) or acquitting a guilty person (false negative). The Blackstone ratio addresses the relation between false positive and false negative verdicts. The ratio depends on how much certainty the judicial decision-maker requires before convicting an accused. This article describes an experimental study of Dutch community views about the Blackstone ratio. It was hypothesized that public views on this issue may depend on seriousness of the offence. Moreover, it is expected that providing balanced information on the consequences of both convicting an innocent and acquitting a guilty person would result in more deliberated and informed public judgement on the Blackstone ratio. We manipulated both the seriousness of the crime and information about the consequences of false positive and false negative verdicts. Findings reveal that public reactions to the criteria for deciding upon guilt or innocence are dynamic and vary with the seriousness of the crime. The provision of information relating to the two types of judicial error had no significant effect on public attitudes.

Are Stalkers Recidivists? Repeated Offending by Convicted Stalkers

Stalking is an obsessive behavior. Legal definitions generally characterize stalking as repetitive conduct. It may therefore be expected that recidivism by stalkers is high. We investigated court statistics of stalking cases to establish which proportion relapses in stalking behavior after a conviction and what other types of new crimes they commit. Case files of stalking cases have been investigated to find out whether and which neutralization techniques are used by stalkers to justify harassing behaviors. Stalkers who do recidivate do so quickly after a conviction. They appear to make use of various neutralization techniques. There is a small group of highly obsessive stalkers that seems not to be stopped by any of the measures, sanctions, or interventions that are imposed.

Exploring the Relationship between Subjectively Experienced Severity of Imprisonment and Recidivism A Neglected Element in Testing Deterrence Theory

Objectives: This study assessed to what extent differences in the subjectively experienced severity of imprisonment (SESI) affect postrelease offending behavior. Methods: Interview and questionnaire data from the Prison Project, a sample of 1,344 Dutch inmates who were incarcerated for up to two years. Results: Bivariate analyses indicate that inmates who experience their imprisonment as more aversive are less likely to be reconvicted following release. While this relation persists after accounting for the duration of confinement, it disappears once potential confounders are accounted for. Conclusions: Even when accounting for the SESI, more severe prison sentences do not deter offenders from subsequent involvement in crime. Hence, while a growing number of scholars argued that accounting for the SESI would result in a different conclusion about the specific deterrent effect of imprisonment than previously assumed, this body of skepticism is not grounded in empirical evidence.

Democratising punishment: Sentencing, community views and values

This essay explores and critiques a theory of criminal justice which privileges the role of public intuitions about punishment over more traditional influences on sentencing principles and practice. This movement may be termed ‘Democratising Punishment’ and it has important consequences for sentencing in all jurisdictions. Several recent books advocate reforms such as deriving sentencing principles from public opinion research or sentencing by juries rather than legal professionals. In the essay we critique this perspective and note the threats to principled sentencing arising from greater public involvement in the sentencing of offenders.

The Influence of Detailed Offender Characteristics on Consecutive Criminal Processing Decisions in the Netherlands

Recent scholarship on sentencing disparity emphasizes the need to consider multiple decision-making points, to incorporate more detailed information on offender background characteristics, and to examine disparity in broader international contexts. This study investigates both pretrial and final sentencing decisions, incorporating a broad array of theoretically relevant offender characteristics. It combines rich survey data with official sentencing data. This data collection is part of a larger project, the Prison Project, in which 1,904 Dutch pretrial detainees were interviewed. Results indicate that several different offender characteristics exert important independent effects over criminal processing decisions and that pretrial release exerts a powerful influence over final sentencing decisions. These findings contribute to ongoing scholarly debates over the key determinants of criminal punishment in international context.

Short-Term Effects of Imprisonment Length on Recidivism in the Netherlands

This article assesses the relationship between imprisonment length and recidivism. The data come from a unique longitudinal and nationwide study of Dutch prisoners, serving an average of 4.1 months of confinement (N = 1,467). A propensity score methodology is used to examine the dose–response relationship for three types of registered recidivism (i.e., reoffending, reconviction, and reincarceration) within a 6-month follow-up period. Findings indicate that length of imprisonment exerts an overall null effect on future rates of recidivism and that this conclusion holds across the various types of recidivism. These findings contribute to continuing scholarly debates over the social and economic costs of imprisonment.

Dealing with Stalking: Police Intervention or Court Decision?

Various European countries now have gained experience with stalking laws. Apart from a full trial, these laws sometimes also enable immediate interventions at the first signs of stalking. This article discusses such immediate interventions, and compares them with the situation in which the case has proceeded to the court. The Belgian and the Dutch stalking legislations, and how they are used in legal practice, serve as examples. Recent research has explored risk factors for violence accompanying stalking. This article discusses possibilities of using these risk factors for violence accompanying stalking cases, and for guiding decision making on the most promising intervention strategies for different types of suspects. The article ends with an assessment of the merits and disadvantages of the various intervention strategies.

Changes in the Subjectively Experienced Severity of Detention: Exploring Individual Differences

A core assumption underlying deterrent sentencing and just deserts theory is that the severity of imprisonment is merely dependent upon its duration. However, empirical research examining how inmates’ subjectively experienced severity of detention (SESD) changes as a function of the length of confinement remains sparse. This study assesses changes in inmates’ SESD over the course of confinement and seeks to explain this process. Multilevel analyses revealed considerable change in the SESD over the course of confinement. Although individual characteristics are related to inmates’ initial SESD, they are not related to their pattern of change in SESD over the course of confinement.

Why longer prison terms fail to serve a specific deterrent effect: an empirical assessment on the remembered severity of imprisonment

ABSTRACT For a prison sentence to exert a specific deterrent effect, the ultimate question is that imprisonment is remembered as aversive once the offender is released, and is contemplating future criminal activities. Drawing on insights from social psychology and cognition, this study assessed (1) how inmates remember the severity of their imprisonment following release, and (2) how the severity as experienced while being incarcerated (e.g. the worst or the last moment) affects its recollected aversiveness among a sample of Dutch inmates who were released for approximately six months (n = 696). The findings indicated that the severity as experienced while being incarcerated is strongly related to the severity as recollected following release, net of the duration of confinement. Strikingly, to the extent that the length of imprisonment affected its recollected aversiveness, it did so in the opposite direction than traditional deterrence research presumes. Implications for correctional policy and future research are discussed.