Victims of sexual abuse and other sex offenses wait at least a year in the Northern Netherlands before their case comes to court, while the investigation by the Public Prosecution Service is already ready. There are so many sex offenses that the courts in Drenthe, Groningen and Friesland do not belong.
Every year the Northern Netherlands District Court has sixty cases ‘too much’. That is on the one hand due to a constantly high influx of new sex offenses. Due to the full session agenda, the court then unable to treat all those cases quickly.
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is concerned about the long lead times at the court. “I am really awake,” says Rianne Wildeman, public prosecutor and team leader high-impact crime at the OM Northern Netherlands. As soon as the OM has finished investigating, it requests a hearing at the court. From that moment it often takes another year before sex offices are planned. Victims and suspects have been in uncertainty all the time.
For victims of sexual abuse, it is an uncertain time as long as the case runs, they do not know where they stand and can only wait and see what will happen. The long wait is also undesirable for suspects, says the public prosecutor. While their case is running, they cannot get a declaration of behavior (VOG). For many professions, it is obliged to get started. “Moreover, it also happens that suspects are falsely accused. In this time of social media that ultimately leaks out. Then you have the label for the sex offender,” says Wildeman.
In the Northern Netherlands, moral cases are almost always treated by the so-called Multiple Chamber (MK), where three judges deal with the matter. It is often about sensitive things with a major impact that are difficult to prove. The Public Prosecution Service now calls on the court in the north to have lighter offenses, such as touching buttocks or showing a genitals, to be treated by the police judge from now on. Then only one judge needs to consider the case.
According to the OM, this can ensure that moral cases are treated faster. “Now an assault in a pub must also be treated by the multiple room, but I prefer to spend that space abusing at an incest case of someone who has been at home for six years. Those are things that really belong to the multiple room. And then I prefer to plan the assault with a police judge,” Wildeman argues.