Life sentence
There’s an interesting article in today’s paper about two Dutch professors who want the Netherlands to follow a proposal in the Netherlands Antilles for a more “humane” approach to prisoners with life sentences.
There are no doubt many in the Antilles who would disagree, because they believe there should be more- rather than less-harsh punishment for serious crimes. Some even advocate introducing the death penalty in the islands.
A forum recently established in the Netherlands is in any case propagating a more humane execution of life sentences, referring to a steady increase in the imposing of such sentences in Holland. The idea is to prevent that a life sentence automatically leads to a person spending the rest of his/her life in prison without any prospects or hope of ever returning to society, which is considered a degrading situation.
This would be done by having a mandatory review by a judge after 20 years, which can be repeated every five years if needed. Of course, the court will also have to look carefully at the interest of the victims and their relatives, as well as the danger of repeat offences.
The idea of letting persons who more often than not are convicted killers out early is not exactly comforting. However, as life sentences in the islands too have been increasing, Justice Minister David Dick asked the committee working on revising the Antillean Penal Code, of which the two Dutch professors are members, to look into the matter.
The result is a proposal that must still go to Parliament, where it no doubt will become a hotly debated item. One of the issues is that, regardless whether one agrees or disagrees with the idea itself, letting convicts with life sentences out earlier only makes sense if they can be truly rehabilitated while in prison, so there is little chance of their becoming a danger to society again and they have a realistic shot at actually make something of the rest of their lives, contributing to their community in the process.
While the recently-launched programme giving inmates a chance to start their own businesses when they are released is a good initiative, it does not appear the prisons in St. Maarten or Curaçao are able to provide meaningful rehabilitation for hardened criminals at this time. Until they can do so, the general interest outweighs that of the individual convict, who after all did the crime and must in principle do the time.
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