Dagblad van het Noorden
Dutch 'losing faith in justice system'
The Dutch population is losing faith in the nation's justice system and the government is falling short of maintaining justice and order, leading the population to feel unsafe, an advisory board claimed on Tuesday.
The Academic Council for Government Policy (WRR) advised the government to modernise the constitutional state, which it claimed was no longer geared to a modern society that supports individuality and a growing number of beliefs.
The WRR report criticised the government's justice policy and said a proposed crackdown against crime would lead to an overburdened judiciary system unless more personnel were appointed. It also said the legal system and the nation's police must become more effective.
But Justice Minister Donner said in the Lower House of Parliament last week that no extra funding was planned for the judiciary system, despite a recent promise to recruit 4,000 more police officers.
The WRR also said there was great tension between what the government could do and what the public demanded.
It said the government was confronted with a difficult proposition: Improving public safety, but not infringing on privacy. The government cannot meet both demands, leading to a decline in the public's faith in the constitutional state, the WRR claimed.
The WRR said the murder of Pim Fortuyn in May proved to many Dutch nationals that there were problems in the system, with two-thirds of survey respondents admitting to less faith in the constitutional state shortly after the Hilversum shooting. |
登录
