Apparently, drugs and sex don’t lead to more crime. Or do they?
Photo: killthebird
I have to admit, when I first saw the headline, Netherlands to close prisons for lack of criminals, I thought it was a joke.
But apparently, a “decline in crime has led to overcapacity in the prison system.”
And to deal with the loss of jobs that will occur with the closures, some “reprieve” may come from Belgium, who apparently has too many criminals.
That got me thinking: why does one country have so few criminals it has to shut down prisons, and the country next door has so many they have to export their prisoners?
Boingboing points out in their coverage of the shut-downs that in the Netherlands, “most drugs are legal,” though a commenter who appears Dutch says this isn’t the case; only marijuana is “semi-legal.”
The blog Eideard adds:
Here we are – studying a nation perpetually castigated by Law and Order nutballs for being too soft on drug users, too free and easy on sex, having too many unions and too much personal freedom in the face of a large immigrant population and the danger of terrorism – ending up with empty beds in the prison system. What’s wrong with this picture of freedom, tolerance – absent Christian morality? Apparently, damned little.
Could it be that who we define as “criminals” throughout the world are based more on petty crimes (or taboo choices) more than anything else?
Here’s the problem with that theory: Pot and prostitution are pretty much legal in Belgium too.
And even within the Netherlands, there were some angry reactions to the news that prisons were being closed. An opposition MP, Fred Teeven, stated, “Violent crime is not going down…and we are far too willing to use community service. The Minister is wrong to close down prisons because of falling demand.”
Ok, got it:
Community Service + Falling Demand = Bad.
Believing that violent crime is Up + Keeping Prisons Open = Good.
Sounds like a plan to me.
Do you think that sex, drugs, and rock and roll lead to more crime, or are the morality police bent on keeping some people to jail? Share your thoughts below.
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But you haven’t really reported much here. Fred Teeven seems to believe that crime is still a problem. Is he right? Who knows. That isn’t really explored here.
And as you point out, there’s nothing all that special about the Netherlands that would lead anyone to believe that they should be any better at crime than their neighbor. Maybe Fred is right, and the country just isn’t jailing people it should.
If they’re not giving community service to “petty criminals” (as they’ve decriminalized those actions), then who exactly are they giving it to? Shouldn’t they be left with little but violent crimes and theft, actions which are a direct threat to the community? Are those really people you just want to be giving community service?
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I was super suprised as well when I heared they wanted to close 6 (or 8 I don’t remember) prisons, I thought the crime rate had gone up and that loads of prisons were pretty full but probably I was wrong.
I also heared that they closed them down not only because there are no criminals but also because the builings aren’t good enough anymore (not enough room, sunlight, oxygen) so I don’t know why we’re going to rent them to Belgium or why they have more ‘criminals’ then us. maybe because it’s a bigger country more inhabitans? IDKwell I guess it’s all about the money as always.
closing them down – less expenses
renting them out – more money↵ -
Interesting. I would like to see some crime stats comparing the two nations.
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Kelly,
There is alot more in between smoking weed and murder. They are not letting dangerous people off with community service. The country has legalized weed; it’s not an anarchist state.Why don’t people realize that the mentality of the people in the Netherlands is affected positively not because they can smoke weed, but because they have a choice to. The country has less crime because the people living here are happy. Their government does a better job of supporting the people and the people reflect that.
In Belgium it is easily accessible but they don’t have the same choice. Which shows their government not respecting the peoples voice. It creates tension within a system.↵ -
I think being free has to be worth not committing the crime.
In some countries they don’t have a good freedom…but they often don’t have good jails either!
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I sort of felt obligated to my nation to clear thing up:
1. Matt is absolutely right!
2. It’s not like we are a almost crime-free country who have very little criminals. I have been told that a wjile ago we had kind of a problem with illegal immigrants who were coming here like crazy and for which were build prisons like crazy. The government aprently solved that, send them home and now we a lot of empty cells.
3. The prison in my city for exaple has a lot of belgium prisoners at the moment (temporarily) so that the prison-guards have time to find a new job.
4. We are a very tolerent county, yes (or used to be; unfortunately a man calles Geert Wilders is working very hard on changing that), but even over here drugdealing is illegal (unless you’re a licenced coffeeshop owner, but then it is not really dealing is it?) as well as smoking pot in public (although a everyone still does it)
5. Pot and prostitution are not legal in Belgium.
6. They’re not legal here eighter. They’re just allowed. Over here it is a different thing (we are a strange country…)And finally; we have a very good social system. Most of the hardcore criminals recieve therapy and our prisons are less prisony (if you know what I mean). Most of the times you don’t keep them out of trouble by punishing harder.
All we need (yes, criminals to) is a little help!
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I’ve always had great respect for the sensibilities of the Dutch. BTW, the Czech Republic legalized possession of 5 cannabis plants per citizen starting in 2010. I think I’ll be looking to take a visit to Prague in the future.
See the Wall Street Journal New Europe blog article here:
“Czech Govt Allows 5 Cannabis Plants For Personal Use From 2010″
http://blogs.wsj.com/new-europe/2009/12/08/czech-govt-allows-5-cannabis-plants-for-personal-use-from-2010/tab/article/Now if North America’s politicians can acquire some common sense.
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