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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
3.5.4 Prosecution and trial in figures
A large “dark number” of instances of child pornography exist. This means that the number of child
pornography cases known to the police does not represent the total number of instances of child pornography
in society. Depending upon the available capacity and upon indications that increase the
likelihood of detection, amongst other things, a certain number of the child pornography cases known
to the police are successfully concluded and forwarded to the Public Prosecution Service. This section
contains statistical information regarding the cases of child pornography that are registered with the
Public Prosecution Service and the child pornography cases that are settled in first instance or on appeal.
This concerns:
– Information originating from the Public Prosecution Service in §3.5.4.1 (regarding the prosecution
of suspects), §3.5.4.2 (regarding the trial of suspects in first instance) and in §3.5.4.4 (regarding background
characteristics of suspects and individuals sentenced in first instance).
– Information originating from the Investigation and Policy Database of Judicial Documentation in
§3.5.4.3 (regarding the trial of suspects on appeal).
The different items of data in this section do not represent a cohort. After all, not all cases registered with
the Public Prosecution Service are concluded by the Public Prosecution Service in the same year in which
they are registered, or settled in first instance or on appeal. It should also be noted that the formulation
of the section of the law concerning child pornography does not, unfortunately, make it possible to
differentiate, on the basis of subsections, between the possession, distribution and production of child
abuse material. The statistics that originate from the Public Prosecution Service and the Investigation
and Policy Database of Judicial Documentation do not therefore provide information about this distinction,
which is a very relevant one. 433
3.5.4.1 Prosecution in figures
Number of child pornography cases registered with the Public Prosecution Service
Figure 3.7 shows the trend with regard to the annual number of child pornography cases registered
with the Public Prosecution Service against individual suspects in the period between 2005 and
2010. 434 The term ‘child pornography cases’ refers to cases in which child pornography definitely
plays a role. It is often the case that these cases also involve other offences, in addition to child
pornography.
433 Finally: When interpreting quantitative data, the specific context in which the data was collected must
always be taken into consideration, as well as various factors that may influence the data. For the
research justification, refer to Appendix 2: Justification of the research methods employed: 2. Public
Prosecution Service data & Investigation and Policy Database Judicial Documentation research. The
explanation of the figures displayed in this section, the additional tables presented in Appendix 4 and
the statistics that are applicable to this can be found in Appendix 2.
434 Please refer to Appendix 4, Table B4.5 for the table containing the complete summary of this data
(including index figures and the growth in relation to the previous year).