Dutch incarceration rate dropped 44% in 5 years

In 2010 there were 75 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants in the Netherlands.

This is down 44% from 134 prisoners in 2005, according to a study by the Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Security. RTL Nieuws reports that Estonia had a greater absolute drop in inmates, from 327 to 259.

A spokesperson of the ministry told the broadcaster that reason for the strong decline in inmates is that the number of serious felonies has decreased a lot.

The thing that struck me in the 664 pages long report is how few prisoners we used to have. In 1980 the Netherlands had 23 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants:

See also:

• Belgium looking to rent jail cells abroad
• Women prisoners are sought after mates
• More people in prison on suspicion than after conviction

(Photo by Moira Durano-Abesmo, some rights reserved)

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 27th, 2012 at 2:36 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Tags: law, police, prisons