Samenvatting

In the Dutch public debate on honour-based violence on a regular basis this question is raised: should a special article be introduced for criminalising honour-based violence? However, it is striking that in this debate until now not much attention has been paid towards the different roles of family members in these violent conflicts. The main focus has always been on the so-called ‘material offender’, i.e. the offender that commits or threatens to commit a violent act. But what about family members that play a role in instigating this violence, the so-called ‘intellectual offenders’? In this article it is stated that in the Dutch context we should focus less on the introduction of new articles for punishing honour-based violence in the penal code and make better use of already existing laws and legal framework for addressing these severe violent acts.