Nearly 10,000 sex crimes in 2022: “the tip of the iceberg”

The increase is mainly due to more reports of assaults and rapes, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reports based on new police data.

MeToo movement

In 2013, police recorded a total of 8,600 sex crimes. This includes sexual assault, rape and fornication of minors. After that, the number dropped to 7700 in 2015.

In 2018, this number had risen again to 9,100 reports. The rise of the MeToo movement in late 2017 can be seen as a possible cause for this, a spokesperson said.

Over the next two years there were fewer reports, but since 2021 there has been a further increase to nearly 10,000 last year.

“Much larger actual size”

The nearly 10,000 recorded sexual crimes are only the tip of the iceberg, according to the Center for Sexual Violence (CSG). “Size and impact are much more important than numbers,” explains CSG director-director Iva Bicanic.

“Most people don’t tell at all, let alone go to the police. They are afraid of the reaction of others.” A possible misunderstanding or disbelief of the environment also plays a role. “By keeping their mouths shut, they prevent that.”

In 2022, 2955 sexual assaults and 2885 rapes were reported, a record. A year earlier, it was 2265 and 2400 respectively.

According to Statistics Netherlands, this increase may be the result of growing social attention to sex crimes. For example, the backstage abuse of The Voice of Holland came to light early last year.

What is striking is that in most cases victims of sexual offenses do not turn themselves in to the police. In 2021, only 11.5% of victims reported what they experienced.

Take a lot of time

This is much less than victims of other types of crime. There, 37.5 percent report to the police. The processing of declarations takes a long time. According to a deputy police expert, this is because these are often complex cases.

People sometimes wait longer themselves before filing a report. Just over a fifth of rapes reported to police last year were committed in previous years.