There are currently no indications that innocent citizens are being held due to errors with suspects’ names, says State Secretary Teun Struycken (Legal Protection). It was announced on Wednesday that the names of convicts in at least 867 cases are incorrect.
Struycken “cannot say with certainty at this time” whether there are cases in which convicts have evaded their sentences.
The names of suspects in at least 867 cases have been incorrectly recorded. In at least 141 cases, these involve serious offenses, such as sexual and violent crimes. The Netherlands Court of Audit speaks of serious consequences for the citizens and society involved.
The precise extent of the problem is still under investigation. That is Struycken’s “first priority.” He is also mapping the consequences for citizens. The NSC State Secretary speaks of a “complex issue” that will take a lot of work to sort out.
According to the Court of Audit, civil servants do not have clear instructions on how to deal with this. Therefore, Struycken is working on guidelines for employees of the Judicial Information Service (Justid) so that they know what to do with incorrect names.
“There is also extra attention and space for Justid employees to discuss recurring dilemmas,” says the State Secretary. “This is how I hope to prevent employees from facing a moral dilemma.”
Part of the Cases Must Be Ropened
Struycken cannot yet say when the problems will be resolved. In some cases, a new court ruling is required. But it is not yet known how many there are.
The problem has been known at the Ministry of Justice and Security (JenV) for more than ten years. The first signals came in as early as 2005. However, it never reached the top. According to the Court of Audit, various ministers of JenV were therefore not aware.
The Court of Audit signals “inability” on the part of Struycken and his predecessors to do anything about this. The State Secretary says he was informed about the problems in January.