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What is working so well when it comes to crime and punishment in the Netherlands?

By Douglas A. Berman

If (when?) Senator Jim Webb is able to get a national crime and punishment commission created, I hope that figuring out what is working in the Netherlands becomes an immediate focus of of the commission's attention.  That's because, as this recent article forwarded to me by a helpful reader shows, the Netherlands is having to close prisons because of a lack of criminals: The Dutch justice ministry has announced it will close eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs in the prison system. A decline in crime has left many cells empty. During the 1990s the Netherlands faced a shortage of prison cells, but a decline in crime has since led to overcapacity in the prison system. The country now has capacity for 14,000 prisoners but only 12,000 detainees....continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on May 29, 2009 (boomark / email).