Samenvatting

Research on magistrates’ penal attitudes has long been a blank spot in both the Netherlands and in Belgium. In the Netherlands, a theoretically integrated measurement instrument has been developed revealing the general structure of penal attitudes held by Dutch judges. It showed that the complex of penal attitudes is dominated by two independent perspectives: harsh treatment and social constructiveness. The latter perspective encompasses rehabilitation and restorative justice. Replicating the Dutch measurement instrument, penal attitudes of Belgian magistrates were recently examined. This article reports the results and compares them to earlier findings in the Netherlands. It is shown that, in contrast to Dutch magistrates’ penal attitudes, the structure of Belgian magistrates’ attitudes reveals an autonomous role for restorative justice. This finding and possible explanations are elaborated upon.