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The Netherlands Closes Prisons Because It Doesn't Have Enough Prisoners

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Re: The Netherlands Closes Prisons Because It Doesn't Have Enough Prisoners

#3

This sounds like a great thing to me. Is the sentiment expressed in the article by MP Nine Kooiman that empty cells means more people should be arrested a common one in The Netherlands?

penultimate paragraph:

> Closing prisons is good news in many ways. It means less money wasted, and signals that there is less crime. It also leaves empty facilities that can be repurposed, like an old jail in Colorado which was turned into a transitional housing facility for the homeless, with a focus on homeless veterans.

Re: The Netherlands Closes Prisons Because It Doesn't Have Enough Prisoners

#4

This sounds like a great thing to me. Is the sentiment expressed in the article by MP Nine Kooiman that empty cells means more people should be arrested a common one in The Netherlands?

Not really, no. Crime rates have been steadily declining for years. The SP is a minority party which never had a seat in government (even though they were founded in the 70's). They are mostly worried about the job losses this would cause.

Re: The Netherlands Closes Prisons Because It Doesn't Have Enough Prisoners

#5
Misleading article. I'm from the netherlands and a lot of police interviews report lack off financial support and manpower.

Only criminals that get caught end up in jail.. Criminals who do not get caught are criminals nevertheless.. And they stil do criminal things.

Correlation =/= Causation.

Re: The Netherlands Closes Prisons Because It Doesn't Have Enough Prisoners

#6

Misleading article. I'm from the netherlands and a lot of police interviews report lack off financial support and manpower. Only criminals that get caught end up in jail.. Criminals who do not get caught are criminals nevertheless.. And they stil do criminal things. Correlation =/= Causation.

I have no idea what the the truth is, but it seems that members of most groups will anecdotally tell you they need more resources or support.

Re: The Netherlands Closes Prisons Because It Doesn't Have Enough Prisoners

#9

Misleading article. I'm from the netherlands and a lot of police interviews report lack off financial support and manpower. Only criminals that get caught end up in jail.. Criminals who do not get caught are criminals nevertheless.. And they stil do criminal things. Correlation =/= Causation.

OTOH, the murder rate in 2015 was also the lowest in 20 years: http://nltimes.nl/2016/07/29/netherlands-murder-rate-20-year...

Re: The Netherlands Closes Prisons Because It Doesn't Have Enough Prisoners

#10
There are a couple reasons why there are so little people in jail in the Netherlands and not all are positive. Crime reporting rate has never been lower. People have very little confidence that reporting a crime will lead to the criminal getting caught or even convicted.

Many crimes are not solved. The crime solve rate is about 2-3% which means out of that small number of actual reported crimes only a marginal amounts get solved.

Out of those solved crimes only a percentage reaches an actual conviction for the criminal.

It's very common for judges to pass a community services punishment or an electronic ankle bracelet house arrest.

Lastly. Our current police and justice department like to do magic with the statistics to make everything seem like a colourful rainbow world where no crime happens at all.

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