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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
violent in other respects. When taking the age of the victims into account, the younger the victims are, the
higher the demands are with regard to the sentence to be handed down. According to the Guidelines, child
abuse material involving children under the age of twelve must carry the most severe sentences. In determining
the period during which the activities took place, a distinction is made between a short period of time
and a lengthy period of time. According to the Guidelines, a short period of time is understood as being a
maximum of one year. Finally, the Public Prosecution Service also looks at reoffending, in the event that the
suspect has already been sentenced for sexual abuse. The starting point, for prosecuting the possession of
child abuse material as a predicate offence, is a demand of 120 points, which means a custodial sentence of
120 days. According to the <strong>National</strong> <strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong> Expertise Centre, a part of the sentence is, in practice,
demanded as a suspended sentence in the majority of cases, due to the importance of modification of behaviour;
a special condition during a probationary period allows for rehabilitation supervision and treatment. 415
Special session regarding the possession of child abuse material
In order to call attention to the severity of the offences, the Public Prosecution Service organises
so-called special sessions. At the end of 2010, such a session was held at the Court of The Hague,
in which six suspects stood trial for the possession of child abuse material. The Public Prosecution
Service is of the opinion that due to this fact, the suspects are partly responsible for maintaining the
production and distribution of such material. According to the Public Prosecution Service, a working
order or suspended custodial sentence does not do justice to the severity of the offences, which is
why the Public Prosecution Service demands a non-suspended sentence in principle. 416 It emerges
from the judgments that the court has not followed this demand in all instances. 417
415 Written information from the <strong>Child</strong> <strong>Pornography</strong> Expertise Centre, 11 August 2011. See §3.6.2. for more
detailed information about this.
416 Press Release of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of The Hague, ‘Special session regarding the possession
of child abuse material’, 5 November 2010, available at: www.om.nl (viewed 20 June 2011).
417 Court of The Hague, 26 November 2010, <strong>National</strong> Case Law Number: BO5186 (working order of 180 hours,
six months suspended and a probationary period of five years, of which ten months non-suspended and
six months suspended had been demanded. In particular, the court considered the fact that the suspect
had the images in his possession for just a short period of time); BO5185 (the suspect had the images in
his possession for over seven years. He had also paid for the images. In this instance also, the prosecutor
demanded a non-suspended custodial sentence of eight months, and eight months suspended. The judge
also imposed a community service order of 240 hours, with a suspended custodial sentence of nine months
and a probationary period of five years. In this case, the court took into consideration the fact that the man
was voluntarily undergoing therapy and that a custodial sentence would interfere with this therapy); BO5184
(acquittal); BO5183 (suspect had a relatively small collection of child erotica in his possession. Partly due to
this reason, the judge did not follow the prosecutor’s demand for ten months’ non-suspended, six months’
suspended and a probationary period of five years. The suspect was sentenced to a working order of 180
hours, six months suspended with a probationary period of three years); BO5163 (the suspect had searched
for material for over two years, and had also found it: almost one thousand five hundred images. But with
regard to this suspect, it also primarily concerned child erotica and not ‘hard-core’ child abuse material.
The judge did not follow the public prosecutor’s demand of eighteen months’ custodial sentence of which
six months suspended with a probationary period of five years, in this case either. The court considered a
community service order (180 hours) and a suspended sentence of six years with a probationary period of
three years to be sufficient). The judgment with regard to the final suspect has not been published.