http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/16324/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/20603/ 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z The ways court procedures can be avoided is a classical theme in socio-legal studies and criminology. The preface to a book published on that theme by the Erasmus School of Law in 1988, on the occasion of its 25th anniversary, covers the then dominant view very well: ‘They [people who advocate out of court settlements, RvS] consider the judge as an ultimum remedium. And that is how it often should be’. Topics covered in that jubilee volume ranged from arbitration and administrative regulation to diversion and alternative dispute settlement. Now, however, it is striking to see that not only the topics in this issue of the Erasmus Law Review differ substantially from those of twenty years ago but that the tone is also quite different. The initial optimism and the belief that avoiding formal court procedures is essentially a good thing seem to have made way for a more sceptical attitude. Here it is questioned whether extra-legal regulations and out of court settlements actually do diminish the number of court procedures and whether this would be desirable.. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/14241/ 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z Postwar developments in Dutch penal policy encompass one period of sustained reduction in the scale of imprisonment (1947-74), producing the most humane penal system in Europe, followed by a second (1975 to date) in which that trend reversed, producing an imprisonment rate that exceeds the European average, with adverse consequences for the character of prison regimes. The causes of the initial period are not self-evident, taking place while crime was rising, and based on a philosophy of minimizing the resort to custody. Key elements of that approach continued from 1975 to the mid-1980s, during a period of sharply rising crime rates. The period of sustained recarceration after 1985, and its prolongation, into the 1990s and beyond, entailed a sweeping reconfiguration of penal policy. Managerial, instrumental, and incapacitative measures took precedence over previous goals of resocialization and restorative justice.