16 July 2023 at 00:53
On Friday, John S. was sentenced to life imprisonment for the fatal shooting at a care farm in Alblasserdam last year. But what does life really mean? And how often does that happen in the Netherlands?
How long is lifelong?
In principle, a life sentence in the Netherlands really is a life sentence. There are only two ways to get out. Because the convicted person turns out to be innocent. Or through a reassessment. Here’s the thing: the European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2013 that a life sentence without the prospect of (possible) release is inhumane. The Dutch Supreme Court has adopted this. Since 2016, a request for clemency can therefore be submitted for someone who has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
This is done as follows: after someone has served 25 years of the sentence, lawyers and behavioral scientists from the Advisory Board for Lifelong Punishments check whether a convicted person is eligible for re-entry into society. This takes into account the degree of recovery, the risk of recurrence and the interests of victims and surviving relatives.
The Board advises the Minister of Legal Protection, who ultimately decides whether the detainee is allowed to work on reintegration into society. That doesn’t mean it actually happens. That depends on the prisoner’s progress during the reintegration process.
Three years after the advisory board’s advice, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) and the judiciary are considering the case. They then advise the Minister for Legal Protection whether it is safe to allow the detainee to return to society. The minister takes that advice to the king, who ultimately decides whether the convict will be pardoned or not.
When does someone get a life sentence?
Life imprisonment is the most severe sentence a court can impose in the Netherlands. That only happens when someone has committed a very serious crime. For example, one or more murders, terrorist acts, leading a terrorist organization or an attack on the government or king.
Of course someone gets life imprisonment as a punishment, but the sentence can also have other functions. For example, protecting society (sometimes a convict is too dangerous to ever walk free again), or creating a deterrent effect (in the hope that others will be discouraged from committing a serious crime).
Does this often occur in the Netherlands?
“Judges in the Netherlands impose a life sentence several times a year,” says criminal judge Lieneke de Klerk in a video on Rechtspraak.nl. Forum Levenslang, a foundation that is committed to better treatment of life sentence prisoners, has seen a sharp increase since 2000 in the number of life sentences imposed.
In 2022, 42 convicts were serving a life sentence and 17 people had not yet been irrevocably convicted, according to figures from Forum Lifelong. At that time, the sentence had been demanded 13 times.
Major liquidation processes have recently taken place in which life imprisonment is more often seen as both a demand and a punishment. Consider, for example, the Marengo process. Ridouan Taghi was, among other things, demanded life imprisonment.
2023-07-15 22:53:19
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