NCJ Number
116931
Date Published
1988
Length
56 pages
Annotation
Theories that have been proposed to explain the declining rate of imprisonment in The Netherlands are examined.
Abstract
These theories include the view that economic influences and fiscal crises prompt the use of alternative sanctions, the view that other forms of social control are increasing, the theory that the penal population depends on the penal capacity, and the concept that the Dutch have a longstanding tradition of tolerance of deviance. Other theories variously rest on the concept that the Dutch are practicing the politics of accommodation, the view that Dutch sentencing trends result from a confluence of largely unanticipated prior social developments, and the view that judges and prosecutors in The Netherlands have evolved a distinctive occupational culture. Neither the economic theory nor the panel capacity theory matches the actual conditions in The Netherlands. However, some of the other theories help explain how the elites were able to carry out their policies without provoking fierce hostility. In additional, the theory focusing on judicial culture seems to be central to understanding the striking reduction in the prison population.