Crimes Against Humanity in International Criminal Law

The Dutch criminal justice system has, for some time, been famous for its mildness. This mildness, which has been reflected for example in a strikingly low prison rate has both impressed & shocked foreign criminal law scholars & criminal justice officials. This traditional mildness is now at stake. Crime has increased considerably & so has the prison rate. Major changes have taken place in Dutch society, & these require a new criminal justice policy. In 1985 the Minister of Justice submitted to the Parliament a new policy plan called Society & Crime, & a policy plan called Law in Motion was published in 1990. These new criminal policy plans propose a step-by-step approach in order to raise the level of criminal law enforcement & to intensify crime prevention. The statutory powers of the police to investigate organized crime will be expanded, the efficiency of the prosecution service will be improved, the capacity of prisons will be increased, & crime prevention programmes will be intensified. Whether the relative mildness of the Dutch criminal justice system will be maintained in the future or not, is a difficult question to answer. However, since the mildness is built into the system itself (as is demonstrated in this criminal justice profile) it is most probable that this mildness will be at least partly preserved in the future as well.Bassiouni, M. Cherif is the author of 'Crimes Against Humanity in International Criminal Law' with ISBN 9780792317371 and ISBN 0792317378.