NETHERLANDS - Why Near Empty Prisons?
The US, China, Turkey and Brazil are just some of the countries that are putting more and more people behind bars. But in the Netherlands, it’s a different story. Some empty prisons there have now been re-purposed as hotels or cultural centers.
A study conducted by the Universities of Leiden (Netherlands) and Portsmouth (UK) found that the number of people in prison in the Netherlands fell from 94 per 100,000 citizens to 51 per 100,000 between 2005 and 2016.
That makes the Netherlands one of the few countries that have seen their prison populations decline. Data platform World Prison Brief (WPB) has identified a similar trend in Germany, Liechtenstein, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, and the Baltic states.
Crimes against property saw a 44% decrease in prison sentences, violent crime and sexual crime saw imprisonment rates fall by 39%, and for drug-related crimes the drop was as much as 49%. The number of people sent to jail for failing to pay a court-imposed fine decreased by 38%.
The Netherlands also has an unusually low average length of custodial sentence. The criminologists at the University of Leiden noted in their study that half of all those sent to prison there were released again within one month.
By contrast, according to a report by the University of Lausanne that looked at prisoner rates across the 46 members of the Council of Europe, just 5.2% of inmates spend less than six months in jail, and some 21.3% serve between 12 months and three years.
-www.dw.com, 20 October 2024
Arno's Commentary
The Netherlands is one of the most liberal states in the world. A Google search reveals that for total crime rate, the Netherlands is ranked 13th worldwide, compared to the USA’s first place, meaning 8 times more than the Netherlands.
While even the experts don’t know the reasons for the Netherlands’ low crime rate, law enforcement probably plays a major part, which is rather lenient.
Somewhat strange is the fact that, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics in the Netherlands, 6 out of 10 people do not have any religious affiliation—that usually means atheism. Compare this to the USA, where 41% attend church at least once a month.
Researchers have listed diverse reasons for crime, but virtually all agree, poverty contributes. That, however, we believe—under the auspices of the spirit of Antichrist—will be solved, where all things are regulated and there is no way to hide: albeit, thankfully, only temporarily.
When the great confrontation between truth and lie, light and darkness occurs, we read in Revelation 17:13-14: “These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
