Dutch Tolerance: On Drugs, Prostitution, and Euthanasia

Tolerance as a way to defer negative reactions to things that are not morally approved is a core characteristic of Dutch society. Since the 1970s tolerance has had important manifestations in cultural and legal settings. In Dutch criminal justice policy, tolerance not only refers generally to leniency regarding (petty) crime but also means that government in some circumstances does not prosecute specified infractions of statutory law. This tradition made possible distinctive Dutch ways of handling problems such as drugs, prostitution, and euthanasia. Dutch tolerance makes it possible to differentiate between dangerous and less dangerous forms of questionable behavior and to focus less on moral judgments. Tolerance has not impeded efforts against organized crime, nor has it much influenced levels of drug abuse or medical end‐of‐life decisions. Dutch policies in some of these fields are more effective than those in other Western countries. Rising criticism of legal tolerance coincides with a decline of cultural tolerance in general. Some blame official tolerance for recent ethnic difficulties involving the rapidly growing Muslim minority.