M. Moerings

Pre-sentence reports and punishment: A quasi-experiment assessing the effects of risk-based pre-sentence reports on sentencing:

The current study investigates the effects of structured risk-based pre-sentence reports on sentencing outcomes in the Netherlands by means of a quasi-natural experiment. Defendants with such a report are compared with similar defendants without such a report, based on propensity score matching and synchronization on nine additional criteria relevant to penal decision-making (N = 6118). Although structured risk-based pre-sentence reports are a textbook example of ‘new penological’ accounts, high-risk defendants with such a report are not sentenced to more ‘controlling’ and less ‘diverting’ sentencing outcomes than are high-risk defendants without such a report. Instead, these reports overall relate to less ‘controlling’ and more ‘diverting’ sentencing outcomes, indicating that the penal welfarism account is still prevalent in penal decision-making in the Netherlands.

Nazorg voor ex-gedetineerden door Exodus: maakt het verschil?: Recidiveonderzoek onder ex-gedetineerden die bij Exodus verbleven in de periode 1999-2012

Exodus is an organization aimed at assisting prisoners at their transition to society. In the Exodus halfway houses participants receive help in finding a house and a job, in improving relationships with family and friends and in giving meaning to life. This study uses a quasi-experimental design to investigate whether participating in the Exodus program reduces reoffending: the observed reoffending rate is compared to the reoffending rate that was predicted based on characteristics of the participants. The findings show that two years after leaving Exodus, 46.5% of the participants reoffended. This is 4.1 percent point less than the total population of former prisoners and 4.6 percent point less than the predicted reoffending rate.