Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Dutch government to close 8 prisons - Not enough criminals

From Race Hochdorf's Facebook page, comes a link to the MPP Blog:

Netherlands To Close Prisons; Not Enough Criminals

For years prohibitionists, including our own Drug Enforcement Administration, have claimed — falsely — that the tolerant marijuana policies of the Netherlands have made that nation a nest of crime and drug abuse. They may have trouble wrapping their little brains around this:

The Dutch government is getting ready to close eight prisons because they don’t have enough criminals to fill them. Officials attribute the shortage of prisoners to a declining crime rate.

Just for fun, let’s compare the Netherlands to California. With a population of 16.6 million, the Dutch prison population is about 12,000. With its population of 36.7 million, California should have a bit more than double the Dutch prison population. California’s actual prison population is 171,000.

So, whose drug policies are keeping the streets safer?

If marijuana did not exist, the Prison Guards Union, the Prison Construction Lobby, the Parole Officers, and the SEIU would have to invent it.  God, what a waste of lives, money, and taxes, all in the name of "saving and creating jobs". 

2 comments:

NickM said...

Yes!

BTW,

WS I dunno if you know about this genius from Texas...

http://www.countingcats.com/?p=7616

Walk unafraid WS! Walk unafraid!

Fester said...

All that money and all of those lives wasted. The USA is a sad place, taxes are taken from us to pay for prisons and wars, in other countries taxes pay for healthcare and welfare. I prefer not having taxes pay for either, but if forced to choose one, it would be the latter.