That is because they understand human behavior and punish or do not punish fairly and humanly!

:-) Unlike some countries we know!

Good article! Now if only the people in charge in this country would consider it. Usually you point these things out and they have a million reasons why it won't work.

I liked the comment…how better to rehabilitate people than making them productive members of society. So true and common sense. When will the US wake up and see that over imprisonment is NOT the answer….obviously!

If the United States started doing this people would have a fit and it would cause mass hysteria with the people

The Netherlands are a very liberal society. Not only are they liberal when it comes to the drug laws---which is what really filled our prisons here in the United States---but they do not have the hang up with sex that the United States does with its puritanical stance on sex.

Most of Europe is this way. They refuse to waste their national wealth by placing so many people in prison for drug crimes. They are much wiser than the United States.

It costs more to incarcerate an individual in this country for a year than it would to send them to college for a year, yet we continue to put people in prison. Of course, over here, the criminal justice system and prison has become an industry, while that is not true of any other country.

We would be better served to educate our young people and attempt to rehabilitate them to become model citizens, but that is not what we do. I could go on and on, but I don't want my blood pressure to spike.

And they are much more reasonable with their attitudes regarding sexuality. My God, we have a conniption over here and it makes the national headlines---and becomes a national debate---when Janet Jackson has a simple five second nipple slip during a Super Bowl half time show. We do not have any common sense over here.

But, it won't change any time soon. The marijuana laws over here have become more reasonable. I knew that would happen when the old fogies in office either died off or were voted out of office. Many of them were so stuck in their own ways that reform was not possible.

I hope this happens someday with the registration process, but it will take time.

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You know I got to thinking what would happen if the United States started to actually learn how to treat inmates like they do across the pond and I other countries they actually might start treating people better