‘Dutch law is far behind in this area,’ says principal investigator Bas de Wilde, who, together with researchers from VU University Amsterdam, investigated for the WODC whether the law should change.
According to the researchers, necrophilia is such a serious violation of the integrity of a deceased person that it should be punishable by a prison sentence of up to 4 years. In countries such as Germany, France, England and the United States such acts have long been punishable. Judges, prosecutors, scientists, police officers, funeral directors and immediate family were interviewed for the study.
The reason is the case of necrophilia to die de Volkskrant revealed in early 2021. An 18-year-old perpetrator was found to have assaulted a 76-year-old woman in a morgue three years earlier. The man was later found through a DNA match and confessed, but the judiciary had to release him because his act was not punishable.
Consequently, no treatment could be imposed for any sexual disorder. The relatives then approached the then Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus, but were deceived. After media attention and parliamentary questions, the minister asked the WODC to look into the law.
“This is a Sex Offense”
Several cases are known in case law of perpetrators who sexually abused a victim after her death, but who were acquitted of the rape charge, because a corpse is legally considered an object. Under current law, sexual acts on a corpse can only be condemned as ‘damage’. According to researcher De Wilde, however, this is not always the case and the maximum sentences are relatively low. “But most importantly, this is essentially no harm,” he says. “This is a sexual offence.”
The researchers believe that a corpse should therefore have a separate status in the law: between a person and an object.
It’s not known how often necrophilia occurs, but experts previously advised that it should be considered a criminal offence. “I know of few crimes that I think still need to be included in the penal code,” said forensic medicine and criminal health law professor Wilma Duijst. rather against de Volkskrant. “But of this I say: do it. Fix it well. The body deserves respect, even after death.” Professor Emeritus Hjalmar van Marle, former director of the Pieter Baan Center, said this can also prevent a recurrence: ‘If you don’t treat these perpetrators, things can go from bad to worse. These are sex offenders.’
Other forms of profanation
The researchers also find the sentences for other forms of desecration of the corpse too low by today’s standards. For example, the maximum penalties for digging up or disposing of a corpse should be doubled.
To clarify this, they describe a 2019 court case in which a perpetrator sawed off a body, burned it, poured it into concrete and dumped it into the canal. The judge then explicitly wrote that the maximum penalty of two years for the disposal of a corpse was “in reality too short” and that too little account was taken of “the reprehensible way in which the perpetrators of this crime can act” and the consequences for feelings. of next of kin.
Moreover, the researchers recommend making the physical assault of a corpse independent as well. This includes the destruction or dismemberment of a body or the removal of organs. Now this can only be punished as destruction. According to lead researcher De Wilde, this doesn’t fit with the impact on society and next of kin: “It’s really another matter if you kick yourself against a fence or do irreparable damage to a deceased body.”
