The 14 months in prison without due process could have been expanded on more in the article, there was next to no info regarding that situation which leaves the reader with a fair few unanswered questions.
Lopez was apparently armed and, from the picture painted in this article, pretty much unhinged. Something needed to be done. But the only "something" the criminal justice system has in its bag of things is, by pretty much all accounts everywhere, a total debacle.
Are things better in other countries? Who's doing this well? What does Norway do?
He would annoy the AIVD (or RIVD?), at some point possibly breaking a law (the threat). The AIVD isn't authorised to arrest I think, so they would make a complaint and a police officer would come to his door, interrogate him, recognise the mental health issues and send a note to his physician.
The physician would call the guy and try to get him into a voluntary institution or at least to see some kind of therapist on a weekly basis. Let's say the guy is unreceptive to his.
Next step is that a social worker in his neighbourhood (this is a new system called wijkteam) is assigned to him that will visit his residence once a week. The worker will knock on his door and try to connect and build trust, family and friends are encouraged to participate in this process.
If the guy screws up too bad though, and the police gets involved another time or two the physician will be asked to authorise an involuntary treatment and he would end up in an institution of which would be much like a rich state in the US (NY, CA) one I think.
Note that nowhere in this process there would be a solitary confinement or separation from his family. That might happen in the NL but I can't imagine it would ever happen for more than a few days.
(For whatever it's worth: the NYT piece doesn't say Lopez was ever held in solitary, or that he was denied visitation by his family --- but solitary confinement is a distinctive US problem and a legit contrast to draw with the Netherlands).
Not really, it's a problem in Europe too. We just don't talk about it.
If you get arrested here in Finland, you'll by default be in solitary and will remain so until the cops, not the courts, feel like letting you out.
Don't get arrested. Your life will be ruined top to bottom.
Side note: I don't feel like anyone cares about real justice anymore...
The article states that Lopez was held in mental units in prisons--his long detention was probably the result of his mental situation.
The stories she has make my engineering job look like some kind of kindergrten. Patients trying to eat their own feces, trying to hurt staff members. Just remember techie folks that there is a whole other world out there where very bad and difficult things do happen.
I will never understand how the right wing in this country has become so detached from helping people that actually need it. It's certainly un-Christian, but put that powder-keg aside for a second and it's bad for property values and businesses and communities and tourism and everything that creates more wealth when the least of us aren't cared for.