ABSTRACT
Detention or custody can be considered one of the ultimate forms of incapacitation. Detention disables a potential offender from committing a crime by isolating him (MacKenzie 2006, Latessa and Smith 2007). While in detention, it is impossible or at least much more difficult to commit crimes outside the detention facility. This also implies that the immediate impact of incapacitation on offending behavior is limited to the length of time someone spends in a detention facility. 1 In the Netherlands, every year around 40,000 people are detained and, therefore, incapacitated for some time. Almost 90 percent of these detainees are released within one year and almost 60 percent within three months. Therefore, the average length of “full-time” incapacitation is rather limited. Notwithstanding those offenders who stay in detention much longer, we may conclude that the effect of incapacitation in the Netherlands in general should not be believed to be too big. 2
