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Justification of research methods used
to recent statistics. The Research and Policy Database for Judicial Documentation has an even greater
backlog to deal with. In this instance, the reference date that has been set for statistics from the Public
Prosecution Service, as well as those from the Research and Policy Database for Judicial Documentation,
is January 2011. It is also necessary to consider that the statistics from the Public Prosecution Service that
represent the year 2010 will probably be higher at a subsequent reference date. With regard to the figures
from the Research and Policy Database for Judicial Documentation, the decision was taken to disregard
the year 2010. The Public Prosecution Service is currently involved in the transition from COMPAS,
the old recording system, to the new Integrated Process System [Geïntegreerd Processysteem Strafrecht (GPSsysteem)].
Data from the Public Prosecution Service is fed into COMPAS as well as the Integrated Process
System. 3 However, a transitional phase in recording always carries the risk of additional contamination
of data. The statistics for 2009 and 2010 have been affected by this, making them more difficult to compare
to data from previous years. 4
3 The probation study
Research method
The information in §3.6.5 and in Appendix 4 Table B4.29 is derived from the joint client monitoring
system of the three probationary institutions in the Netherlands; the Dutch Probation Service [Reclassering
Nederland], the Salvation Army [het Leger des Heils] and the Netherlands Institute for Psychological
Care and Addiction Care [GGZ Nederland] 5 . In the client monitoring system, the suspects and convicted
perpetrators who are registered with the probation and after-care services in connection with child
pornography offences (amongst other offences 6 ) can be selected. The analyses with regard to the ‘clients
with offenses related to child pornography’ were carried out by the Dutch Probation Service at
the request of BNRM.
Comments regarding the statistics
It is possible that the number of clients with offenses that were, in any case, related to child pornography
– as stated in the statistics – who were registered with probation and after-care services
in connection with child pornography in 2010 does not include only those suspects and convicted
perpetrators who were ultimately referred to the probation and after-care service in connection with
a child pornography offence (amongst other offences). In fact, the client monitoring system only
allows you to make a choice based on the first three numbers of an article number. In this way, child
pornography (Article 240b of the Dutch Criminal Code) falls under offence number ‘240’. However,
3 By 2010, the Integrated Process System was already the biggest supplier of the Public Prosecution Service
data.
4 As a result of this situation, there appears to be a larger decrease in the number of cases than was actually
the case.
5 This is the professional organisation for psychological care and addiction care in the Netherlands.
6 In the event that ‘240’ is present in at least one of the maximum of five recorded offence codes in
the client monitoring system. Incidentally: if a case involves more than four different offences in
addition to child pornography that are more serious than child pornography, the offence code for
child pornography will therefore not be recorded. However, situations such as this will very rarely
arise.
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