Sexual offence cases in the Netherlands: how the procedure works

A case of this kind in the Netherlands usually starts with an informative conversation at the police, followed by a reflection period, a formal report, an investigation led by the Public Prosecution Service (OM) and, if the prosecutor proceeds, a trial. Since 1 July 2024 the Wet seksuele misdrijven (Sexual Offences Act) has replaced Title XIV of the Dutch Criminal Code (Sr), and the law now turns on consent rather than coercion; conduct before that date is still judged under the old law.

What changed on 1 July 2024?

Before that date, rape and sexual assault required proof of coercion: force, threat of force, or another act of compulsion. A complainant who froze, did not resist, or was too frightened or too intoxicated to object often fell outside the definitions, however clearly the contact had been unwanted.

The Act moved the starting point. What must be proved is not that the complainant was forced, but that they did not want the contact and that the other person knew this or had serious reason to suspect it. Coercion now raises the maximum sentence rather than founding liability. Each central offence exists in both an intentional and a culpable form, and two new offences were created: sexually approaching children online (sexchatting) and sexual harassment in public. The Act has no retroactive effect, so conduct before 1 July 2024 is judged under the law as it then stood — which matters greatly in cases reported years later.

What are the main offence categories?

Article 254 Sr raises the maximum further where there are aggravating circumstances: several offenders acting together, an official abusing their position, or serious injury caused to the victim.

What does consent mean under the new law?

The Act requires no formal or spoken agreement. It asks whether the other person’s will to engage in the acts was present, and what the accused knew or should have understood. Consent may appear in words or conduct, but it must exist at the time and cover what actually happened.

Article 244 Sr lists circumstances in which the will is in any event absent: unconsciousness, a reduced state of consciousness, physical incapacity, and a psychological disorder, psychogeriatric condition or intellectual disability that leaves someone unable to properly form or express a will about the acts, or to resist them. Someone asleep, unconscious through drink or drugs, or unable through disability to choose cannot in law be consenting.

What does not count as consent?

• Silence or passivity. Not saying no is not saying yes.
• Freezing. Immobility is a documented response to sexual violence. Under the old law it often defeated a prosecution; it no longer indicates consent.
• Consent to something else. Agreeing to one act does not extend to another, and a previous occasion says nothing about this one.
• Consent withdrawn. The will must be present throughout; continuing after the other person makes clear they want to stop is an offence.
• An existing relationship. Marriage, cohabitation and a sexual history create no standing permission.
• Abuse of position. Where the complainant depends on the accused, apparent agreement may not be a free one.

Why do the culpable offences matter so much in practice?

This is the Act’s most significant change, and the most often misunderstood. The intentional offences in arts. 241 and 243 Sr require knowledge: the accused knew the other person’s will was absent, or accepted the substantial chance of it. The culpable offences in arts. 240 and 242 Sr require much less — serious reason to suspect the other person did not want the acts, and going ahead anyway. The law expects a person to notice and respond to signals that are obvious to a reasonable person, and to check where signals are ambiguous.

A claimed belief that the contact was wanted is no longer automatically an answer; the question is whether that belief was justified. The line between acquittal, the culpable offence (maximum two years for assault, four for rape) and the intentional offence (up to nine years, twelve with coercion, for rape under art. 243 Sr) can turn on what was said, what was visible and how much had been drunk.

What about offences involving children and 16- to 17-year-olds?

Sexual acts with a child under 16 are criminal regardless of what the child said or appeared to want, graded by age band with heavier maximums the younger the child. For 16- and 17-year-olds, sexual contact is not automatically an offence, but arts. 245 and 246 Sr apply where an additional circumstance is present: a family or care relationship, authority, particular vulnerability, dependency, deception, gifts or money, or prostitution.

Article 251 Sr covers the intrusive sexual approach of a child under 16, spoken or written, and includes sexchatting: sexually explicit messaging with a child online. It also covers exposing a child to sexual material and proposing a meeting.

How does a report normally start?

What happens in the informative conversation?

The police normally begin not with a formal report but with an informative conversation (informatief gesprek), usually held by two officers, at least one a trained sexual offences investigator, and recorded on audio and in writing.

The officers explain what a formal report involves, what an investigation would look like, and what it may and may not achieve. They also take a first account: what happened, when and where, who else may know, and whether there are injuries, messages or photographs. Everyone is told that knowingly making a false report is itself an offence; this is standard practice, not an expression of disbelief. The conversation is not itself a report and may be recorded only as a melding.

Do you have to decide on the day?

No. The police and the Public Prosecution Service work to the protocol of the informative conversation, after which the complainant has a reflection period (bedenktijd) before the report is formally pursued; as a rule that period is fourteen days.

A report, once made, cannot simply be withdrawn: whether to investigate and prosecute is for the OM. Saying you no longer wish to take part carries weight but does not end the case. Where there is a serious continuing danger or a strong dependency relationship, the police may proceed without a report at all.

What happens at the specialist interview?

The formal report is taken by sexual offences investigators at a police station, and it takes time — several hours is normal, sometimes across more than one session. The officers ask about events in detail and in sequence, and put questions that can feel intrusive or sceptical; that reflects what a court will later require, not a judgement about the account.

A complainant may bring a support person, ask for breaks, ask why a question is put, and is entitled to an interpreter. Interviews with children and particularly vulnerable complainants are conducted by specially trained officers, usually in a purpose-built studio and recorded on video, so the account need not be repeated unnecessarily.

What does forensic examination involve?

The Centrum Seksueel Geweld is a national network of doctors, nurses, psychologists, sexual offences officers and case managers, reachable at no cost and anonymously, day and night, on 0800-0188.

Timing matters. The centre asks people to make contact within seven days and preferably within 72 hours: that is the window in which biological traces can still be recovered, and in which medication to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection, including HIV prophylaxis, remains effective. After about seven days an examination will generally no longer yield traces from the body, though clothing, bedding, messages and photographs stay useful far longer.

An examination commits no one to reporting: material can be secured and held so the option stays open, and nothing happens against the wishes of the person who comes forward. Coming forward later, even after years, does not make a case hopeless; many prosecutions succeed with no forensic material at all.

How does the investigation work, and why do these cases turn on statements?

Once a report is made, the police investigate under the direction of a public prosecutor: a detailed statement from the complainant, an interview with the suspect, statements from anyone told at the time, examination of phones and messages, and, where relevant, medical records, camera footage and location data.

What is usually absent is an independent witness to the act itself. Sexual offences happen in private, and forensic evidence, where it exists, tends to establish that contact occurred rather than whether the will to engage in it was present. These cases therefore turn on the assessment of accounts: their consistency and coherence, their fit with the surrounding evidence, and what was said and done afterwards.

Dutch evidence law adds a real constraint. Under art. 342 Sv a court may not base a conviction solely on the statement of a single witness; the complainant’s account must find support elsewhere. That support need not be an eyewitness or a forensic finding — a contemporaneous message, an early disclosure, an injury, or the accused’s own account can supply it. Small details recorded at the first interview matter later, so digital material should be preserved.

How is the decision to prosecute made?

Once the investigation is complete, the public prosecutor decides. The case may go to trial, be disposed of out of court, or be discontinued — a sepot — because the evidence is thought insufficient to convict or on policy grounds. A complainant is entitled to be told the decision and its reasons, and may ask to discuss it with the prosecutor.

That is not the last word. Under art. 12 Sv a person with a direct interest, including a complainant, may complain to the court of appeal for the region where the case was handled. Where a suspect has been identified and formally notified of the discontinuance, the complaint must be lodged within three months; otherwise no fixed period runs, though delay is still unwise.

The court examines the file, hears the advocate general, and may hold a hearing behind closed doors. It decides not guilt but only whether a prosecution should take place. If the complaint succeeds, it orders prosecution or further investigation; if it fails, the discontinuance stands.

What are the rights of someone accused?

Someone reported for a sexual offence will normally be invited for interview or arrested. There is a right to consult a lawyer beforehand and to have one present during questioning, a right to silence, a right to be told the suspicion, and a right to an interpreter. In police custody a lawyer is assigned automatically; a lawyer of one’s own choosing may be instructed instead, and legal aid is available depending on means.

These are offences for which pre-trial detention is available. Police custody (inverzekeringstelling) may last three days and be extended once by three; an investigating judge may then order remand (bewaring) for up to fourteen days; and the court may order continued detention (gevangenhouding) for up to ninety days — up to 110 days in all before the case must come to court. Detention can be suspended on conditions and challenged at each stage.

An allegation can affect employment, professional registration such as a certificate of conduct (VOG), residence applications and family arrangements long before a court hears any evidence. Do not contact the complainant or discuss the allegation with witnesses: that damages your position and can itself be an offence.

What are the complainant’s rights at the hearing?

A complainant is not a party to the criminal case; the prosecution is brought by the state. They do have defined rights: to inspect the file, add documents, be accompanied, and be informed of progress and outcome.

Under art. 51e Sv there is a right to speak (spreekrecht) at the hearing in cases concerning serious offences, including those discussed here. It belongs to the victim and, in defined circumstances, to relatives and a child’s legal representatives. It may be exercised in person, in writing through a victim statement, or by an authorised representative such as a lawyer or a Slachtofferhulp Nederland caseworker. The statement is addressed to the court rather than to the accused.

Compensation can be claimed within the criminal case by joining as an injured party under art. 51f Sv, covering financial loss such as treatment costs and lost income, and non-material harm. The claim must not place a disproportionate burden on the proceedings; a complex one may be left in part to the civil courts. Where compensation is awarded, the court usually also imposes a compensation measure, under which the state collects the sum from the convicted person. Separately, the Schadefonds Geweldsmisdrijven can pay victims of serious violent and sexual offences, with no conviction required.

What are the limitation periods?

Under art. 70 Sr the right to prosecute lapses after six, twelve or twenty years depending on the maximum sentence, and not at all for offences carrying twelve years or more. For the listed offences committed against a minor, it does not lapse at all.

Where the victim was an adult, the period depends on the offence charged: six years for culpable assault (maximum two years), twelve years for culpable rape and intentional assault, twenty years where the maximum is eight years or more, and no limitation for rape with coercion (maximum twelve years). Conduct before 1 July 2024 is assessed under the law then in force, so check the period rather than assume it. Under art. 71 Sr, where a period does apply to an offence against a child, it runs from the day the victim turns eighteen.

Offences concerning child abuse material moved with the rest of Title XIV: since 1 July 2024 they sit in art. 252 Sr, and the former art. 240b Sr no longer exists.

Where can you find support?

• Centrum Seksueel Geweld — medical care, forensic examination and psychological support, day and night, on 0800-0188.
• Slachtofferhulp Nederland — free practical, emotional and legal support for victims and relatives, including help with the right to speak and compensation claims.
• The general practitioner and Veilig Thuis — for medical care and for domestic or dependency situations.

What should you check as a complainant?

You decide whether to report, but once a report is made the OM decides whether to prosecute.

• Contact the Centrum Seksueel Geweld within seven days, preferably within 72 hours, for medical care and to secure traces, even if you have not decided to report.
• Preserve messages, photographs, call logs and the names of people you told at the time.
• Use the reflection period after the informative conversation, usually fourteen days, to take advice.
• Ask whether a victim’s lawyer can be assigned to you, and note the three-month deadline for an art. 12 Sv complaint if the case is discontinued.
• Decide in good time whether to use your right to speak (art. 51e Sv) and to join as an injured party (art. 51f Sv).

What should you check as a suspect?

The first police interview often shapes the whole case, so the steps before it matter most.

• Consult a defence lawyer before the interview and have one present during questioning.
• Use your right to silence until you know what you are suspected of and have had advice.
• Check which law applies: conduct before 1 July 2024 is judged under the old Title XIV.
• Comply strictly with any conditions attached to a suspension of pre-trial detention.
• Do not contact the complainant or witnesses, directly or through others.

What can we do for you in this procedure?

Our criminal lawyers assist suspects from the first interview onwards, and advise complainants on their procedural rights.

• We attend your police interview and prepare you for it beforehand.
• We review the file and the evidence, including messages and statements, against the support requirement of art. 342 Sv.
• We challenge pre-trial detention before the investigating judge and the court at each stage.
• We draft an art. 12 Sv complaint to the court of appeal within the three-month period.
• We prepare and file an injured-party claim under art. 51f Sv, or respond to one.

Summary

• Since 1 July 2024, Dutch sexual offence law turns on whether the other person’s will was present, not on whether force was used.
• Each central offence has an intentional form (knowledge of absent will) and a lighter culpable form (serious reason to suspect it), with different maximum sentences.
• You are never obliged to report immediately: an informative conversation and a reflection period come first, and forensic help through the Centrum Seksueel Geweld needs no report.
• Dutch law requires a complainant’s account to find support elsewhere in the evidence; that support can come from messages, an early disclosure or the accused’s own statements, not only forensic material.
• Both complainants and accused persons have distinct legal rights at every stage, from the first police conversation to a possible art. 12 Sv complaint or trial.

Frequently asked questions