Comment by Tade0

My country has a relatively high incarceration rate for a EU member, but that is in huge part due to previous governments seeing jail as a solution to everything.

Currently the prevailing notion is that prison is often just LinkedIn for criminals, so attempts at alternatives have been made - ankle monitors and the like.

I know a total of two people who were convicted - both for marijuana possession. One got a suspended sentence as the amount was small, the other did time, but looking at the case it was miscarriage of justice - partly because of a testimony of a man who met the accused just once in his life and had legal troubles of his own, from which he wanted to get out this way.

None of them really posed a threat to society that would mandate incarceration.