Regulation of Prostitution in the Netherlands: Liberal Dream or Growing Repression?

Che Post,Michel Vols,Jan G Brouwer

doi:10.1007/s10610-018-9371-8

Che Post, Michel Vols + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-018-9371-8

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Abstract

This paper focuses on the regulation of prostitution in the Netherlands from the twentieth century onward. It aims to provide a full description of the Dutch position on prostitution through the interpretation and explanation of current Dutch prostitution policy. This will be achieved by analyzing the legal narratives that substantiate the legal rules provided in both Dutch criminal and administrative law concerning the regulation of prostitution. We analyze the Dutch prostitution legislation of the past, present, and future, using a newly developed analytical framework. Using this framework, we reconstruct the legislator’s attitude towards prostitution using insights from previous theoretical work on prostitution and using models aimed at regulating this phenomenon that range from a total ban to full decriminalization. In our analysis, we also use the legitimating grounds for application of criminal law developed by Feinberg. These grounds are also used in this paper to interpret the administrative intervention in prostitution. This paper reveals a paradox: The idea of a liberal dream goes hand-in-hand with growing repression of freedom in the Dutch prostitution sector.

Highlights

The Netherlands is characterized as one of the most liberal countries in the world
Consequence of the seemingly tolerant attitude of the legislator, judiciary, and authorities toward controversial issues such as drug use, euthanasia, and prostitution (Cohen-Almagor 2005; Buruma 2007; Spapens et al 2015). When it comes to prostitution, it is doubtful whether this picture is based on reality, since it is well established, from a variety of studies, that characterization of Dutch prostitution policy as laissez-faire is too simplistic
Kilvington, Day, and Ward, as well as Zeegers and Althoff compared the Dutch and Swedish prostitution policies (Kilvington et al 2001; Zeegers and Althoff 2015), Weitzer compared the Dutch approach toward prostitution with the criminalization of prostitution in America (Weitzer 2012), and Huisman and Kleemans critically assessed the logic of the dominant idea that human trafficking is reduced when actors in the legalized prostitution sector are made responsible for what happens on their premises (Huisman and Kleemans 2014)

Summary

Introduction

The Netherlands is characterized as one of the most liberal countries in the world. This paper aims to analyze the legal narratives that substantiate the legal rules laid down in both Dutch criminal and administrative law concerning the regulation of prostitution since the beginning of the twentieth century It deals with the political debate prior to the changes in prostitution legislation.. It will enable us to assess whether the liberal and tolerant image of the Netherlands with regard to prostitution anno 2017 corresponds with the reality on the ground To answer these questions, we will analyze three different periods in Dutch prostitution legislation: past, present, and future. The subsequent sections discuss the different periods of Dutch prostitution regulation, starting at the beginning of the twentieth century with the tightening of decency legislation high on the government’s agenda This eventually led in 1911 to the BAct against Immorality,^ prohibiting the running of brothels and pimping. This section gives a summary of and an explanation for the main developments in the regulation of prostitution in the Netherlands since the beginning of the twentieth century

The Regulation of Prostitution from a Theoretical Perspective

Discussion and Conclusion

Level of governance State