People who are convicted for possession of child pornography will no longer be eligible for house arrest with electronic surveillance, a court in Den Bosch ruled on Tuesday.

Comparing penitential house arrest with community service, a court spokesperson said "This type of punishment, seen as relatively even milder, would not at all correspond with the intentions of the court."

Convicts under "electronic house arrest" have to stay indoors for the duration of their term. Their movements are remotely monitored by justice officials through an electronic device worn as an ankle band by the convict. The practice is often referred to as "electronic tagging".

Details

The court's position was laid down in a verdict over a man who owned child porn. He was sentenced to 12 months, of which 10 were conditional. He will therefore have to serve two months in prison.

The unusual aspect of the verdict is that the court normally leaves the details of the sentence to be decided by the public prosecutor's office. The prosecutor is allowed to decide whether the convict qualifies for house arrest under surveillance. Contrary to earlier practice, the court is now instructing the prosecutor's office not to apply its discretion here.

In a reaction, Ms Inge Peters of the prosector's office in Den Bosch said, "We were wondering whether this sort of directive falls within the court's remit."

But it does. Law Professor Ybo Buruma at Nijmegen's Radboud University explains,

"In practical terms the judge often leaves the exact form of the penalty to be determined by the prosecutor's office. But in the last instance it remains the judge who decides on the penalty. And that includes the details, as in this case. I even applaud that. It shows that the judge is showing a sensitivity to public feeling."

Professor Buruma emphasises that the Den Bosch arrest should not be interpreted as stating that the default punishment is electronic house arrest, unless the court says otherwise.

Empty cells

Last week, the Lower House complained to Deputy Justice Minister Nebahat Albayrak that every year 2,000 convicts are allowed to serve their term at home under electronic surveillance. MPs from the governing Christian Democrat party, as well as from the conservative and Freedom Party opposition, pointed to the large number of unoccupied cells in the Netherlands' prisons. Ms Albayrak announced to the House she will propose a law regulating the use of "ankle band arrest" later this year.