These light sentences are ridiculous. Even Fortuyn's murderer got 12 yrs. Twelve years seems to be the official price for murder here. The big defence is something like "mental derangement". Why the nutty as a fruitcake murderer of Theo Van Gogh received a life sentence...well, we'll leave you to figure that one out.
More fun reading from:
http://qsi.cc/blog/archives/cat_crime_a ... hment.html
"The way in which serious criminals are punished in the Netherlands verges on the absurd. This is not something new as there is a general failure, and indeed in some cases unwillingness of the criminal justice system to go after criminals. Even then they are caught, tried and convicted, the punishment meted out is ridiculous. One recent instance is the murder of a four year old child, known as the Girl from Nulde, named after the beach where her head was found. She was beaten to death by her stepfather while her mother looked on. They then cut her up into small pieces and tried to get rid of them at various places throughout the country. A morbid jig-saw puzzle finally allowed forensic experts to reconstruct what happened.
So what's the punishment for this crime? The mother is sentenced to eight years in prison, while the stepfather gets twelve. The prosecutor had demanded fifteen. Of course, this is only the nominal sentence. On good behavior, they're likely to leave prison after three-quarters of their term has been fulfilled. The reason why the sentence is so light is because of extensive psychological and psychiatric reports which established the various mental shortcomings of both murderers. The mother was very dependent, lacked emotional independence and was conflict averse. The stepfather suffers from a severe form of paranoia. In his case, the court also imposed on him what's known as "tbs," which is psychological treatment after the sentence has been served. If he can convince the therapists that he's sane enough, he'll be free after his jail sentence.
I will admit that people who beat a 4 year old girl to death are insane and indeed evil. But once you start giving shorter sentences to people because they commit acts which are intrinsically deranged, then virtually any murderer will be able to get a reduced sentence. And that's all too common here in the Netherlands. It does lead to an interesting calculation if you're sufficiently bloody-minded but capable of rational thought. If you want to commit murder, the Netherlands may not be such a bad place to do it. Make the murder as gruesome as possible, get yourself certified as insane and spend six to eight years in prison for it. If you hate someone enough to kill him, the logic becomes disquietingly compelling.
The death penalty would have been more appropriate in this case. Although there is absolutely no chance that the death penalty will be reintroduced here, public opinion polls show significant (though not majority) support for it. And cases where murderers get away with such light sentences are stoking the fires of discontent. There is a big gap between the views of the man on the street and the prevailing practices of the criminal justice system. And with sentences like these, the gap is only growing."
