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<strong>Child</strong> PornograPhy First report oF the Dutch NatioNal rapporteur
predominantly in 2010, a considerable increase can be seen. 455 According to the Public Prosecution
Service, this recent increase is the result of a more intensive approach to tackling child pornography
that has been implemented since 2009. 456
Concluded cases by type of settlement
Figure 3.13 shows the ways in which the Public Prosecution Service concluded cases in the period between
2005 and 2010. 457
Figure 3.13 Concluded cases by type of settlement (2005-2010)
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Year
Joinder
Transfer of proceedings
to a foreign court
Conditional decision
not to prosecute
Out-of-court selement
Unconditional decision
not to prosecute
Summons
On average, the Public Prosecution Service decides to issue a summons in three quarters of all cases 458 , 459
and the unconditional decision not to prosecute is taken in 14% of cases. The remaining types of settlement
concern 11% of all cases on average. Besides this, a decrease in the number of out-of-court settlements can
be seen (from 8% in 2006 to 1% in 2010) as well as an increase in the percentage of conditional decisions not
to prosecute (from 2% in 2005 to 6% in 2010). This is an interesting development, considering the fact that
conditional decisions not to prosecute can (partly) be employed as an instrument of influence. (see §3.6.2).
455 These figures differ to a limited extent from the figures that were published in the Public Prosecution
Service 2010 Annual Report. The differences are probably the result of different reference dates and
possibly other marginal selection criteria. The figures in the Public Prosecution Service 2010 Annual
Report are therefore not based solely on Article 240b, but are also based on classifications (verbal
information from the Public Prosecution Service, May 2011).
456 Public Prosecution Service, 2009.
457 Please refer to Appendix 4, Table B4.11 for the table containing the complete summary of this data.
458 Please note: it can be the case that the decision is made to issue a summons exclusively for offences
other than child pornography. The condition applied to ‘Settled by the Public Prosecution Service’ does
not set requirements for this.
459 These figures differ to a limited extent from the figures that were published in the Public Prosecution
Service 2010 Annual Report. The differences are probably the result of different reference dates and
possibly other marginal selection criteria. The figures in the Public Prosecution Service 2010 Annual
Report are therefore not based solely on Article 240b, but are also based on other classifications. Besides
this, ‘summons’ also includes ‘joinder’ in the Public Prosecution Service Annual Report (verbal
information from the Public Prosecution Service, May 2011).