24 femicides in Netherlands last year; Another 49 women escaped, survived attack

There were 24 femicides in the Netherlands last year in which men, often an ex or a partner, killed a woman, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) reported with its annual figures on Monday. Another 49 women escaped or survived an attempt to kill them.

“Women are the victims of murders committed by their (ex-) partner far more often than men,” said Rinus Otte, chairman of the College of Attorneys General. “Femicide is often preceded by a history of domestic violence.” To “gain more insight” into men murdering their partners, the OM started separately keeping track of women killed since last year.

In total, the OM handled 214,500 criminal cases in 2024, over 10 percent more than in the year before. 206,100 criminal cases were new last year, the rest were backlog cases. Over 52,900 cases concluded in a penalty settlement last year, 25 percent of the total. In 2023, it was 22 percent.

The OM managed to decrease the backlog in sex crime cases awaiting treatment by a third. “Just like in 2023, around 2,100 sexual offenses were dealt with by the court,” the OM said. “There is also a slight improvement in processing times.” In 41 percent of sex crime cases, the first hearing happened within six months of the OM receiving the file, compared to 37 percent the year before. That is still well below the standard of 80 percent.

Last year, the media often wrote about an increase in underage suspects. And that number did indeed increase last year, from 13,300 to 14,100. “A somewhat ‘bouncy’ picture can be seen in recent years. One year it increases slightly, the next it decreases slightly,” youth public prosecutor Rianne de Back said. “But this still concerns a small group of the total number of suspects.”

The OM noted a massive 42 percent decrease in cybercrime cases, such as hacks and ransomware attacks. This was partly offset by a 22 percent increase in digitalized crime cases, such as online fraud and dodgy web shops. “In the past period, the police have been given more registration options to record forms of digitalised crime, which means that this shift is partly of an administrative nature,” the OM said.

Last year, the OM handled 2,410 new or ongoing organized crime investigations, approximately the same as the year before. “This led to 2,050 criminal cases against suspects with a relationship with organized crime last year. The majority of these were brought before the court.” The Dutch courts made rulings on 1,400 of these cases, convicting 1,278 suspects and acquitting 118 of them. “The vast majority of suspects, a total of 561, were sentenced to a prison term for drug production and trafficking,” the OM said.