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While the UK and much of the world struggles with overcrowded prisons, the Netherlands has the opposite problem. It is actually short of people to lock up. In the past few years 19 prisons have closed down and more are slated for closure next year. How has this happened - and why do some people think it's a problem?
...
"In the Dutch service we look at the individual," says Van der Spoel."If somebody has a drug problem we treat their addiction, if they are aggressive we provide anger management, if they have got money problems we give them debt counselling. So we try to remove whatever it was that caused the crime. The inmate himself or herself must be willing to change but our method has been very effective. Over the last 10 years, our work has improved more and more."
He adds that some persistent offenders - known in the trade as "revolving-door criminals" - are eventually given two-year sentences and tailor-made rehabilitation programmes. Fewer than 10% then return to prison after their release. In England and Wales, and in the United States, roughly half of those serving short sentences reoffend within two years, and the figure is often higher for young adults.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by moondoctor on Saturday November 12 2016, @02:08AM
>This was a story in the media so there is propaganda involved
Goddamn this election fucked some people up...
Sad to think that the idea of this just being plain old fashioned journalism (reporting the truth to the best of your ability) is mind blowing. Pro-tip: If you doubt a story in the 'media' go to reliable news outlets on both sides of the argument and split the difference, and if you're lucky you'll be close to the truth. Sometime the BBC is a bit 'Biased Broadcasting Corporation' but because their funding model is completely different to anything else in the US or UK you get much more unfiltered and honest stuff on the whole. Especially the World Service, it's pretty reliable. But... never take anything from one source, or one side, or you'll make a fool of yourself.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
(Score: 1, Troll) by jmorris on Saturday November 12 2016, @05:04PM
Goddamn this election fucked some people up...
Talk about flipping the arrow of causality..... The level of trust in the mass media has been declining toward the basement with Congresscritters for decades. We do not trust them because even most morons can see they aren't trustworthy. They are not journalists. Long ago the press were more biased but they were honest so it worked; every major city had at least two newspapers. You could read both and have a fair idea of what was going on. Now we have one media Narrative and it is painfully obvious that it is divorced from reality. I don't know if the Sham Wow guy has more public trust than the New York Times but the fact the question isn't laughable reveals the problem. And that was before the recent WikiLeaks dumps confirmed most suspicion as not nearly cynical enough to match reality.
The inability of the media to perform their function allowed the ruling class to become equally divorced from reality and not only not know of the concerns of the people they rule, the had adopted the insane idea that it was somehow improper to even WANT to know what "stupid people in Jesus Land care about."
This election was a reaction. Which the media entirely failed to see or report. Even when it happened the Narrative was "Everyone is shocked, amazed and terrified." Really? Half the country voted for it, guess we aren't part of "everyone" It was "How could Nixon win, I don't know anyone who voted for him!" all over again. Decades go by and they learn nothing.
Obama was a reaction (a dumb one) against Bush. But it least it shook up the system... briefly; but cast out stupid, corrupt people and replaced them with stupid, corrupt and outright evil ones.
The Tea Party was a reaction against that. Because we didn't want to become a a failed Socialist hellhole, we wanted America back. We were all called racists and told to STFU. We were declared dangerous and violent as we peacefully assembled and left the area cleaner than we found it.
So now Trump and a Burn It Down attitude. If this also fails to eliminate the problem the next attempt will probably be violent. Of course the forces of tolerance and inclusion are right now rioting, looting and pillaging. That is of course deemed 'legitimate expression'.
(Score: 1) by moondoctor on Sunday November 13 2016, @03:18AM
> The level of trust in the mass media has been declining toward the basement with Congresscritters
WTF does that even mean. Stop with the nonsense and speak fucking English, motherfucker. This is not a game. If you can't be honest with yourself, how can I expect to have dialogue with you?
> They are not journalists
The BBC world service aren't journalists? Fuck your insipid wilful ignorance. You compare them to the New York Times? Seriously? You obviously are very out of touch with how 'media' works.
Go listen to Lise Doucet and 'from our own correspondent' with an open mind and you will be amazed at what you hear.
(Did I say open mind? silly me... I guess I'm relatively alone in looking at both sides. Fox news does have valid contributions, and the NYT is fucked if you are to ask)
Troll or retard, hard to say...
(Score: 1) by moondoctor on Sunday November 13 2016, @03:42AM
First and foremost: If you are a racist, then yeah, Shut The Fuck Up. Hate to break it to you, but If you align with Trump's movement then you are a racist by association. If that doesn't make sense to you, god help us all.
>rioting, looting and pillaging. That is of course deemed 'legitimate expression'.
On what planet? Stop making shit up. No rational person thinks those things are legitimate expression. They are crimes. If you can't see that pushing people beyond breaking point makes awful things happen, then I'm at a loss to help you understand. (Start here: people pushed past the brink will commit crimes, psych 101)
I'm going to pretend you want to see more than the talking points you are regurgitating.
Worth a thought:
"Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a rationalization. This will happen often: humans seem to have evolved to practice denial when confronted publicly with the unacceptable. Back in the 1930s, The New York Times assured its readers that Hitler’s anti-Semitism was all posture. More recently, the same newspaper made a telling choice between two statements made by Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov following a police crackdown on protesters in Moscow: “The police acted mildly—I would have liked them to act more harshly” rather than those protesters’ “liver should have been spread all over the pavement.” Perhaps the journalists could not believe their ears. But they should—both in the Russian case, and in the American one. For all the admiration Trump has expressed for Putin, the two men are very different; if anything, there is even more reason to listen to everything Trump has said. He has no political establishment into which to fold himself following the campaign, and therefore no reason to shed his campaign rhetoric. On the contrary: it is now the establishment that is rushing to accommodate him—from the president, who met with him at the White House on Thursday, to the leaders of the Republican Party, who are discarding their long-held scruples to embrace his radical positions. "