In 2023 6 in 10 detainees had been held in detention previously

The majority of detainees in 2023 were male (94 percent). Among female detainees (6 percent of the total), 4 in 10 had been in detention previously. Among male detainees, the share was 6 in 10. This proportion has declined somewhat among both male and female detainees in recent years.

Fewer young detainees

In 2023, 2.8 thousand young persons aged 18 to 22 years were in detention (9 percent of all detainees). This number has fallen by almost 19 percent since 2019, when there were 3.4 thousand detainees in this age group. The total number of detainees fell by 11 percent during that period. In the case of nearly 3 in 10 young detainees, it was not their first time in adult detention. Among all detainees in 2023, nearly 7 in 10 were people between the ages of 23 and 44 years. This share has risen slightly in recent years.

Educational level among detainees

Among those detainees for whom the highest level of education was known, in 62 percent of cases this was MBO level (secondary vocational education). A small number of detainees (8 percent) had taken part in college or university-level education. In the population of the Netherlands as a whole, around 40 percent of adults have taken part in MBO education, and around 40 percent have taken part in college or university-level education.

Nearly half of all detainees born outside the Netherlands

A total of 47 percent of detainees in 2023 were born outside the Netherlands. This compares with 17 percent in the adult Dutch population as a whole. Over the past two years, the proportion of people in detention who were born outside the Netherlands has increased. In this group, half had already been in detention previously. 

Nearly 4 in 10 detainees not born in the Netherlands originate from another European country. In the adult population as a whole, this proportion is also nearly 4 in 10. Just over half of detainees were born in the Netherlands (53 percent). However, in the case of nearly half of detainees born in the Netherlands, one or both of their parents were born outside the Netherlands.

The Annual Report on Integration considered the overrepresentation of second-generation persons in the criminal justice system. The report concludes that this phenomenon appears to be associated with lower educational attainment and less favourable family characteristics.

More people in pre-trial detention

In 2023, 30 thousand people spent time in detention at some point. But not all of them were in detention for the whole year. On 30 September, 9.6 thousand people were in detention, one-third of whom were serving sentences for violent and/or sexual offences. One-fifth were serving sentences for property offences, and a further one-fifth for an offence involving drugs. 

Of the 9.6 thousand detainees on 30 September, nearly 4.4 thousand were in pre-trial detention waiting for their cases to be heard. That was a rise of 8 percent compared with 2022. In addition, just over 4 thousand detainees were serving custodial sentences, a rise of 3 percent over 2022.

In recent years, there has been a relative increase in the number of detainees serving sentences of three years or longer. On 30 September 2023, 43 percent of detainees were serving custodial sentences. On the same date in 2018, 40 percent were serving such sentences.