Minister Van Oosten of Justice and Security: “It is absolutely unacceptable that enforcers and emergency workers face violence while carrying out our safety and health duties. For perpetrators guilty of such disgraceful acts, community service alone is not an appropriate punishment. With the expansion of the community service ban, we legally establish that assaulting emergency workers and enforcers is unacceptable.”
This proposal expands the existing community service ban to cases of violence against officials with police duties, firefighters, and healthcare workers providing acute care, such as paramedics. Furthermore, the law explicitly states that where the community service ban applies, no fines can be imposed. It will be possible to impose community service if combined with a fully or partially suspended prison sentence. Finally, a hardship clause is introduced allowing judges to deviate from the ban in exceptional cases of repeat offenses involving relatively minor crimes. For serious violent and sexual offenses, community service alone will obviously not be imposed in the future either.
Next Steps
The proposal is now submitted to the Council of State for advice. Afterwards, it will first be presented to the House of Representatives and, upon approval, subsequently to the Senate.