ABSTRACT
The rehabilitation principle was introduced in the Dutch Penitentiary Law in 1886. From a principle that should contribute to the general welfare of all prisoners, it is nowadays mainly interpreted as a tool to reduce the risk of recidivism. In this contribution the implementation of the rehabilitation principle is described for three different phases of the prison sentence: the system of promotion and downgrading of prisoners during the execution of the prison sentence, the renewed system of conditional release and aftercare programmes after release.
