Martine Herzog-Evans

Bio: Martine Herzog-Evans is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Officer & Drug court. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 12 citations.

Decision-Making and Offender Supervision

Abstract: A probation officer sits by his fax machine or telephone in the morning and receives information from the police about offenders who have been arrested the night before. He has to decide whom he will visit that day, have a talk with, probably write a report about and about whom he will advise the investigating judge or the courts on a sentence or an alternative to pre-trial detention. Who is it going to be? How is he going to decide? Another probation officer has a client fail to show up for supervision — not for the first time. When does she decide to start the breach procedure? What influences her decision? Who else is involved in the final decision? A judge or committee has to ponder whether to release an offender who has served half his sentence. What are the criteria that guide this person or body, and by which agencies and by whose advice are they influenced?

The Emotional Dimension in Legal Regulation

Abstract: This article argues that the study of legal regulation can be further developed through an analysis of emotions because it can bring into sharper focus the social nature of regulation. The article illustrates this point by discussing the notion of regulatory law as an emotional process. It then suggests various ways in which an analysis of emotions can promote understanding of a key issue in legal regulation, the role of structure and agency. The article concludes with a brief discussion of how existing social science research methods can be adapted to the study of emotions.

Supervision in the Community: Probation and Parole

Abstract: Over the past half-century, the number of adults under criminal justice supervision in­ creased precipitously in some Western countries, with carceral control in the United States reaching an unprecedented scale. While much of the scholarly attention has been focused on the development of mass incarceration, new research focuses on the parallel expansion of mass probation and, more broadly, mass supervision. In the United States, the number of adults on probation and parole supervision increased from one million in 1980 to a peak of nearly 5.1 million in 2007, more than double the number of inmates in local, state, and federal jails and prisons. Estimates from Europe in the late 2000s sug­ gest that there were approximately 3.5 million on community sanctions, compared to 2 million incarcerated. Individuals on these sanctions serve out their initial sentences (or remaining time after release from jail or prison) while residing in the community under the supervision of a probation or parole officer.

Pre-trial Detention in Belgium. An Empirical Study of Explanatory Factors in the Use of the Arrest Warrant and its Duration

Abstract: This article presents the main results of an empirical research aiming to explain the evolution in recourse to and the duration of pre-trial detention in Belgium. A set of hypotheses was tested by analysing case files processed from 1993 to 2008 by investigating judges in three judicial districts (Brussels, Liege and Antwerp). Statistical models for factors associated with the decisions and durations observed were then established.

Using vignette methodology to research the process of breach comparatively

Abstract: Comparative research related to any aspect of the process of breach in either the pretrial, sentencing or release phases is relatively rare. Comparative studies of decision making in the specific context of breach process are particularly lacking. One reason for the dearth of research in this area is the many challenges presented by comparative research across different jurisdictions. This article focuses on the development of a vignette methodology to explore the decision-making aspect of the breach process from a comparative perspective across a number of different European jurisdictions. The vignettes are designed to explore the decision-making aspects of two different types of breach process – the process of breach that follows on from a breach of conditions of early release from prison and the process that follows a breach of conditions attached to the completion of an unpaid work order. The article begins by contextualizing the research in debates about the relationship between compliance, legitimacy and Rising prison populations. It critically examines the nature of vignette methodology and then discusses the specific challenges of using vignettes in comparative research as well as the development, piloting and evaluation of the decision-making vignettes in focus. We conclude by discussing some of the challenges we faced and particularly our challenge in terms of the development of the methodology – enhancing the comparability of the findings. (Less)

La détention avant jugement en Belgique. Étude empirique des facteurs explicatifs du recours au mandat d’arrêt et de sa durée

Abstract: Cet article presente les principaux resultats d’une recherche empirique s’efforcant d’expliquer les evolutions du recours a et de la duree de la detention avant jugement en Belgique. Un ensemble d’hypotheses a ete teste sur la base d’une analyse de dossiers geres entre 1993 et 2008 par les juges d’instruction de trois arrondissements (Bruxelles, Liege et Anvers) et de la realisation de modeles statistiques des facteurs associes aux decisions et durees observees.