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 amount…
>>It's very common for judges to pass a community services punishment or an electronic ankle bracelet house arrest. But that's a good thing unless you consider sending people to the mines and keep them locked behind bars for years a better alternative.
- It's your first offense
- You more-or-less admit to the crime (not necessarily meaning you turned yourself in, but you didn't go through a trial while maintaining your innocence the whole time)
- You are clearly remorseful
- The crime is minor and non-violent
- The odds are seen as low or very low that you'd do it again
There are exceptions of course, but if you commit armed robbery, I don't think many people would feel community service is a just sentence. Nor would shoplifting if it's the 5th time you've been caught.