Freedom, so close but yet so far: The impact of the ongoing confrontation with freedom on the perceived severity of punishment

Abstract

The severity of a particular sentence is often assumed to be reflected by its degree of liberty-restriction: a five-year prison sentence is considered more severe than a one-year prison sentence, and imprisonment is considered more severe than electronic monitoring. Yet, the relationship between the degree of liberty-restriction and the experienced severity is more complex. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in two Belgian and two Norwegian prisons, and phenomenological interviews with electronically monitored offenders, this article argues that a lesser degree of liberty-restriction can result in a more painful experience of this liberty restriction, but still contributes to the offenders’ reintegration.

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