A Lecture Tour Through the Netherlands
| Published date | 01 July 1949 |
| Date | 01 July 1949 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455054900502204 |
| Author | H. Mannheim |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
284
A
LECTURE
TOUR
THROUGH
THE
NETHERLANDS
Some
Impressions
by
Dr.
H.
MANNHEIM
(Reader
in
Criminology,
London
School
of
Economics)
In
May
of
this
year,
I ~went
to
the
Netherlands
for
ten
days
on
a
lecture
tour
arranged
by
the
Criminological
Institute
at
the
University
of
Utrecht
in
co-operation
with
the &dquo; Vereniging
van
Juridische
Faculteiten
in
Nederland
&dquo;,
the &dquo;
Psychiatrisch-Juridisch
Gezelschap
&dquo;
in
Amsterdam
and
the
Universities
of
Amsterdam
and
Leiden.
In
this
article
I
cannot
possibly
give
a
full
account
of
all
the
interesting
and
beautiful
things
I
was
able
to
see,
nor
can
I
do
justice
to
the
overwhelming
friendliness
and
hospitality
which
I
met.
What
I
should
like
to
try
is
to
give
a
sketch
of
my
impressions
of
some
recent
developments
within
the
Dutch
penal
system
which
might
be
of
interest
to
readers
of
&dquo; Probation &dquo;,
and
even
in
this
limited
field
I
am
well
aware
of
the
incompleteness
and
perhaps
even
occasional
inaccuracy
of
my
report.
To
prepare
myself
for
the
journey
I
was
fortunate
in
being
able
to
read
beforehand
a
useful
memorandum
submitted
to
the
Home
Office
by
one
of
my
former
L.S.E.
Probation
students,
Miss
M.
E.
Neervoort,
and
the
series
of
articles
on
Dutch
Institutions
for
Juveniles
published
a
few
years
ago
in
the &dquo; Approved
School
Gazette &dquo;,
also
the
informative
Report
on
the
treatment
of
Juvenile
Offenders
in
Holland
written
for
U.N.O.
by
Dr.
v.
d.
Werk,
the
Juvenile
Court
Judge
at
Utrecht.
Even
so,
I
could
have
covered
but
little
ground
had
not
the
Dutch
Prison
Department
most
generously
placed
at
my
disposal
one
of
their
staff
cars
with
one
of
their
leading
officials,
Mr.
Mentrop,
as
a
perfect
guide.
For
this,
I
am
deeply
grate-
ful
to
H.E.
the
Minister
of
Justice,
Dr.
Wijers,
who
was
also
good
enough
to
receive
me
in
person,
and
to
the
Director-General
of
the
Prison
Department,
Dr.
Lamers.
I
am
also
indebted
to
Dr.
v.
d.
Werk
who
arranged
a
special
sitti.ng
of
his
Court
to
enable
me
to
attend,
and
und.er
whose
guidance
I
visited
one
of
the
Homes
for
Boys,
Stichting
Hoenderloo,
near
Utrecht,
of
whose
Com-
mittee
of
Management
he
is
the
chairman.
In
the
theoretical
field,
my
special
thanks
are
due
to
Professor
Pompe,
the
Director
and
founder
of
the
Criminological
Institute
at
Utrecht,
to
Dr.
Kempe,
his
second-in-
command,
and
to
their
colleagues
for
many
acts
of
kind-
ness
and
much
useful
information;
also
to
Professor
van
Bemmelen,
Director
of
the
Criminological
Institute
at
Leiden,
to
Dr.
Kist,
Public
Prosecutor
in
Amsterdam,
and
to
Judge
Dr.
Muller,
one
of
the
pioneers
of
penal
reform
in
Holland.
Last,
but
not
least,
I
wish
to
express
my
thanks
for
the
excellent
arrangements
made
on
my
behalf
to
the
Association
of
Dutch
Law
Students
and
to
Dr.
Bakker,
the
untiringly
helpful
hon.
secretary
of
the
Psychiatrisch-Juridisch
Gezelschap.
A
long
list,
but.
as
I
am
well
aware,
by
no
means
exhaustive.
My
sight-seeing
tour
began,
and
ended,
in
Amsterdam.
From
there,
I
was
taken
on
May
16th,
via
the
famous
Afsluitdijk,
the
dam
which
separates
the
Zuider
Zee
from
the
North
Sea,
that
great
achievement
of
Dutch
engineer-
ing
technique,
to
Leeuwarden,
the
capital
of
the
Province
of
Friesland.
The
Prison
at
Leeuwarden,
which
is
also
mentioned
in
the
recent
Government
pamphlet
on
&dquo; Capital
Punishment&dquo;
(H.M.
Stationery
Office,
Cmd.
7419),
is
in
many
ways
of
topical
interest.
Surrounded
by
a
narrow
moat,
the
Institution
dates
from
the
sixteenth
century,
but
its
buildings
were
repeatedly
burnt
down,
and
the
present
Prison,
built
on
the
block
system,
is
not
older
than
1875.
With
accommodation
for
about
600
men,
originally
designed
for
long-termers
from
the
Northern
Provinces
(Breda
is
its
counterpart
for
the
South),
it
now
presents
a
vivid
picture
of
some
of
the
greatest
difficulties
whicn
i;he
Dutch
Prison
System
has
had
to
face
in
recent
years.
As
in
other
formerly
occupied
countries,
the
dominating
penological
problem
of
the
post-war
period
has
been
that
of
the
political
offender,
i.e.
mainly
but
not
exclusively
of
the
collabora-
tor.
Originally
numbering
more
than
100,000,
there
are
now
only
about
5,000
political
prisoners
left,
some
of
them
Germans,
mostly,
however,
Dutchmen;
for
.the
greater
part
sentenced
by
the
ordinary
Courts,
with
a
minority
detained
by
order
of
the
special
Tribunals
established
for
the
purpose;
some
of
them
kep
in
ordinary
Prisons,
some
in
special
Colony
Institutions.
Although
the
problem
has
now
been
reduced
to
manageable
propor-
tions,
it
can
easily
be
appreciated
that
even
a
body
of
5,000
politicals
is
not
easy
to
digest
in
a
country
with
an
ordinary
prison
population
of
6,000
to
7,000.
Some
hundreds
of
them
are
kept
in
Leeuwarden
Prison
where
there
are
also
all
the
non-political
lifers.
The
informa-
tion
I
received
on
the
spot
from
Mr.
Mentrop
and
the
Governor,
Mr.
Jansen,
a
man
of
remarkable
energy
and
enthusiasm,
conformed
closely
to
that
given
in
the
Government
pamphlet
referred
to
above.
At
the time
when
the
heated
discussion
in
this
country
on
the
possible
alternatives
to
Capital
Punishment
is
still
fresh
in
our
minds
it is
particularly
impressive,
however,
to
have
the
practical
possibility
of
such
an
alternative
so
clearly
demonstrated
before
one’s
eyes.
At
Leeuwarden,
lifers,
politicals
and
non-politicals,
do
live
together,
without
discrimination,
with
the
rest of
the
prisoners,
all
of
them
of
course
long-termers.
About
ninety
sleep
in
solitary,
very
spacious
cells,
working
in
association
in
day
time;
the
others
sleep
in
dormitories
for
20
to
45
men
each,
in
hammocks
to
save
space.
Some
structural
improvements
had
just
been
completed;
the
size
of
the
cell
windows
has
been
enlarged
to
about
twice
its
pre-
vious
size,
and
the
bad
old
sanitary
arrangements
have
been
replaced
by
decent
lavatories
in
specially
built-in
recesses
in
a
corner
of
each
cell.
As
a
result,
much
as
I
tried
I
could
discover
no
trace
of
the
notorious
prison
smell.
In
the
hospital,
a
sun-roof,
designed
by
the
Governor,
had
just
been
constructed
for
T.B.
cases.
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