From the “Send ‘em to their rooms without supper...” file:
Minister Plans to Largely Abolish Prison Sentences
NIS NEWS ^ | 05/05/07 | staff
Posted on 05/06/2007 6:35:11 AM CDT by Leisler
THE HAGUE, 05/05/07 - Most criminals in the Netherlands should be able to serve their sentence at home in the future. Justice Minister Hirsch Ballin is to introduce house arrest as a new main punishment. Criminals can then also visit friends or a mosque for two hours a day.
Judges will have the option of imposing house arrest as the main penalty, with a maximum duration of four months. Because sentences are relatively short in the Netherlands, the majority of criminals will be eligible for this. The Lower House does still have to pass the proposed bill, sent by the minister Friday to various bodies including the Council for Jurisprudence (RvR) , the Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) and the Netherlands Bar Association for their advice.
Hirsch Ballin expects house arrest to offer a solution for cases where a fine or community service is experienced as too light and “a stay in prison is not seen as necessary” or is seen as too severe a sentence, according to Trouw newspaper. Expectations are that judges will impose fewer jail sentences.
Under the bill, whether criminals remain in the vicinity of their homes will be monitored by an electronic ankle or wrist-band. Those convicted will however be able to leave their homes for two hours a day. This will only be allowed according to a schedule agreed beforehand. The two hours can be used for doing shopping, visiting family, sports activities or a visit to a mosque or other religious event.
If the criminal leaves home outside the times agreed, an alarm will go off in a police reporting room. The minister also wants to maintain unscheduled home visits as a means of checking. If the criminal fails to stick to the regime, the old situation will come into effect: house arrest will revert to prison.
Those under house arrest will receive welfare payments. Only if they run a company from their living-room or do other work that yields sufficient money will they receive no financial support from the minister. They can also do a home course.
“House arrest is experienced as a real punishment,” according to a spokesman for Hirsch Ballin. “At the same time, social networks remain in place.”
The measure is primarily intended to relieve the prisons. The Netherlands has been struggling for years with a shortage of cells, even though the number of people in prison per head of population is about six times lower than in the US.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1829126/posts?page=1
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Note this little detail: “Criminals can then also visit friends *or a mosque* for two hours a day. “
Interesting implication about the makeup of the Dutch criminal class, hmmmmmm???
Isn't it though. What do you say to people who are just asking for it?