NCJ Number
160505
Journal
Justitiele verkenningen Volume: 21 Issue: 8 Dated: (October/November 1995) Pages: complete issue
Date Published
1995
Length
123 pages
Annotation
This issue focuses on the Netherlands' permissive approach to crime with a special focus on drug offenses.
Abstract
First, the Dutch Minister of Justice describes the Dutch policy of condoning drug use as unique in its European context; the limited number of drug users and their relatively good physical condition argue for the success of this policy. Next, a Swiss professor of criminology evaluates the Dutch drug policy from an outsider's view point and finds it more pragmatic and effective than repressive approaches. The third article traces the Dutch spirit of tolerance back to the seventeenth century; it argues that freedom of spirit with its link to Christianity has now been replaced by freedom of the body. The following article maintains that the policy of condoning should be justified within the philosophical framework of the rule of law and that a common set of values should rule both individual and collective behavior. The concluding article asserts that the policy of condoning can be a deliberate form of justice rather than an admission of government weakness.