Lawmakers push for harsher punishment for femicide, including longer prison sentences
Two Dutch political parties are preparing legislation to increase penalties for femicide, arguing that courts must weigh patterns of stalking, threats, and abuse leading up to the killings of women, RTL reports.
JA21 and PRO, formerly GroenLinks-PvdA, are working on an initiative law that would treat femicide more seriously in sentencing. Lawmakers in the Netherlands report that a partner or family member kills a woman approximately every eight days.
Songül Mutluer of PRO said the issue must now move from political attention to legal recognition. “Last year, we succeeded with several members of Parliament in getting femicide high on the political agenda. Now it is time for action to include femicide in the Criminal Code and thereby recognize it,” Mutluer told RTL.
JA21 and PRO want courts to explicitly consider earlier forms of violence, such as stalking, threats, physical abuse, or rape, as aggravating factors. These so-called “red flags” would be written into law and could raise the maximum penalty to 30 years or life imprisonment.
Femicide is defined as the killing of a woman or girl because she is female. The Atria Knowledge Institute for Emancipation and Women's History describes it as “one of the most extreme forms of gender-based violence."
In many cases, the parties argue, there is an imbalance of power in which a man exerts control over a woman, including situations where women cannot escape. When a relationship ends, the risk of violence can increase further.
Mutluer said the law would allow courts to treat femicide differently from standard manslaughter. “We are creating with this law the possibility for the court to no longer see femicide as manslaughter, but truly as murder with premeditation,” she told RTL.
Ingrid Coenradie of JA21 emphasized the importance of recognizing long-term patterns of abuse before a murder. She stated, "When you knowingly harass someone for years, isolate them, and completely render them powerless, you do so with intent."
She added that other countries already impose stricter penalties. In Italy, femicide has been specifically incorporated into criminal law since last year, carrying a life sentence.
Supporters of the Dutch proposal say stronger penalties would also improve awareness among police, prosecutors, and judges, leading to closer attention to earlier warning signs such as prior assaults or stalking.
Coenradie stated that people often fail to recognize the patterns that precede it. “We hope this law will change that as well. It is critical to identify these patterns. That is where the danger and the difficulty lie.”
The proposed legislation does not create femicide as a separate offense but keeps it within existing homicide law, using a gender-neutral legal framework. “The approach is deliberately gender-neutral,” Mutluer said. “However, in practice, the majority of victims are women.”
