Three phases in postwar sentencing trends in the Netherlands can be discerned. In the first phase, ranging from the early 1950's to the mid-1960's, the impact of a rehabilitative anti-penal philosophy appears crucial in explaining the trend towards shorter sentences. In the second phase, from about the mid-1960's to the mid-1970's, constraints on the capacity of the criminal justice system as a whole, particularly the decreasing clearance rate, assume an increasing importance in enabling the judiciary to continue this trend toward shorter sentences in the face of the decline of the rehabilitation emphasis. In the third phase, from the late 1970's to the present, the period of shortening sentences has ended amidst pressure to expand the capacity of the criminal justice system because of the rising crime rate. The increase in crime, however, appears less due to lenient sentencing policy than to fundamental social and economic developments. The past few years have also seen a considerable tightening-up in the administration of the closed prisons and clinics with the resurgence of a more authoritarian model of administration due to a rash of escapes in the mid-1970's. Still, there is little reason to dispute Bianchi's statement that the Dutch criminal justice system is 'one of the least inhuman control systems in the world' (1975). Tabular and graphic data and 46 references are provided. (Author summary modified)