Victims informed too late of 19 perpetrators' release

Last year the victims in 19 cases of serious crimes were informed too late about the release of the perpetrator from prison or psychiatric institution, according to figures from the information point for detention IDV, NU.nl reports.

According to the detention rules, victims and survivors need to be informed at least a week in advance if a perpetrator is given leave or is released. They must also be informed as quickly as possible if the perpetrator escaped. This is to make sure that the victims of serious crimes do not unexpectedly run into the person who victimized them. These rules apply if an offender was sentenced to at least eight years in prison or psychiatric care, or if the victims testified in the trial.

Last year there were 19 cases of these notifications being done to late. For these 19 cases almost 60 apology letters were sent, a some crimes can include multiple victims or survivors.

The rate of too late notifications decreased from almost 2 percent - 61 too late notifications in 3,385 cases - in 2014 to about half a percent last year - 19 in 3,952 cases. The Public Prosecutor stated that despite the decrease, they are aware that a too late notification can have a massive impact on a victim and the involved organizations are therefore continuing to work on improving the flow of information.