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Sentencing and Prison Practices in Germany and the Netherlands: Implications for the United States (Vera Institute of Justice, October 2013)

Four decades of ever increasing prison populations— driven, in part, by harsh sentencing practices—have left more and more formerly incarcerated people unable to support themselves or their families, disenfranchised, and often homeless. Facing this, many state officials are quite ready to at least consider the corrections practices of other countries.ny and the Netherlands to tour prison facilities, speak with corrections officials, and interact with inmates. The goal was to expose project participants through firsthand experience to radically different correctional systems and practices in order to advance an international dialogue around effective corrections and to stimulate reform efforts in the United States. Given the experiential nature of the project, this report aims to capture the observed differences between the American and certain European corrections systems, as well as the conversations, personal experiences, and perceptions of project participants. It also discusses the impact that exposure to these systems has had (and continues to have) on the policy debate and practices in the participating states. In particular, as both state and the federal prison systems seek to better prepare their prisoners to rejoin society more successfully, and both state and federal governments look to reduce the number of people incarcerated, German and Dutch sentencing and correctional practices, with their emphasis on rehabilitation and " normalization, " offer many valuable lessons.