Why are Northern Ireland’s prisons so empty?

Description

A much smaller share of the population serves time than in England, Wales or Scotland (see chart). Its incarceration rate is closer to that of countries championed by penal reformers such as Norway and Sweden than it is to the rest of the uk. English prisons are crammed but there is plenty of room to spare in jails across the Irish Sea. The disparity seems counterintuitive, given the relatively recent conflict and evidence suggesting that the province’s judges are no less likely to impose custodial sentences than those elsewhere in the uk.