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The approach with regard to the penitentiary system at the BES-islands

Hesselink, Andrea M.C. (2009) The approach with regard to the penitentiary system at the BES-islands.

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Abstract:This thesis regards the penitentiary system at the BES-islands. Some political changes are taking place within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, whereby the country the Dutch Antilles is being dismantled: Curaçao and St. Maarten will like Aruba a couple of years ago get a status aparte, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (the BES-islands) will become public bodies of the country the Netherlands. As a result, the Netherlands will in the future be mainly responsible for the BES-islands and thus for its penitentiary system. Due to these changes, the ministry of Justice wants to know what the best way would be to manage the penitentiary system and how the penitentiary system can best cooperate with the Police and the Public Prosecution Service. The RSJ (free translated: Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles) wants to know whether there will be a future task for him at the BES-islands. The current and future situation with regard to the Dutch Antilles will be described. By doing so, legal and practical implications will specifically be dealt with, as well as the allocation of tasks between the Netherlands and the BES-islands concerning their new status as public bodies. The current Dutch Antillean penitentiary system is described and the possibilities for the future penitentiary system will be studied. After that, management options will be evaluated. The current judicial system of the Dutch Antilles will be discussed. Also, the future judicial system of the BES-islands will be studied. The possibilities for cooperation between the different actors within the system will then be evaluated. In the end, the supervision on and the detainees rights within the penitentiary system of respectively the Netherlands and the Dutch Antilles will be discussed. It will be found out whether and where improvements with regard to the future BES-penitentiary system, its supervision and detainees rights is necessary. Based on this evaluation, legal and desirable tasks will be appointed to the RSJ. Conclusions that can be drawn from this research are that it would be most optimal to extend the current penitentiary system of the BES-islands with a multifunctional institute where all facilities are present (excluding TBR), at both Bonaire and St. Eustatius. Managing the penitentiary system is the task of the DJI. With regard to the most optimal management of the penitentiary system, the DJI can best establish an executive office at the islands. The penitentiary system can best cooperate with the Police and the Public Prosecution Service through a deliberation model that is comparable to the Dutch triangle deliberation. The current Dutch Antillean penitentiary system has just one supervising body. Also, there is no formal complaint right for those entrusted to the government and juvenile detainees. There is no information available on the nature of the complaints, there are no uniform house rules and the communication is lacking. Although the RSJ currently has no legal tasks, because these have not been laid down in legislation that is applicable to the BES-islands, this might be so in the future due to the fact that the need for an organ like the RSJ is big: he can offer the independence that is so necessary. Also, his extended expertise with regard to detainees rights can contribute to an improvement of the penitentiary system at the BES-islands
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:88 social and public administration
Programme:Public Administration MSc (60020)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/60205
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