Thousands of people are fined every year. However, for individuals with financial problems, a fine may be more severe than for those with sufficient financial capacity. When imposing a fine, a judge should therefore take into account the financial capacity of an accused person. To date, however, there are hardly any insights into the financial situation during sentencing and it is unknown to what extent people with more and less financial capacity receive other sentences. In this study, the financial situation of convicted persons is mapped out on the basis of administrative data. The results show that debt problems among accused persons are common and that people with less financial capacity receive different sentences than people with more financial capacity.

The size of the Dutch prison population has fluctuated significantly between 2000 and 2020. More insight into the underlying causes of these fluctuations is necessary. In this contribution, we argue, based on statistical and document analysis, that investigation and prosecution policies have been decisive in shaping the trends in the size of the Dutch prison population. The decline between 2005 and 2016 appears to be partly a result of prioritisation within investigation and prosecution towards (less severe forms of) crime in which civilians feel most victimised. The increase from 2016 onwards is supported by a shift in prioritisation within investigation and prosecution policy.

Combatting human trafficking has been an international priority for decades. Since the adoption of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Human Beings in 2000, tackling various forms of exploitation, including sexual exploitation and labor exploitation, has been on the political agenda. Yet, international research shows that the sexual exploitation of women and minors and a criminal justice system approach to human trafficking are still the focus of political and public debates. Recent policy developments in the Netherlands seem to have a broader focus, in part because of the introduction of the ‘Together against Human Trafficking’ program by the Dutch government in 2018, which aims to strengthen anti-trafficking measures through an integrated cooperation between various stakeholders in addition to police and prosecution. The purpose of this article is to determine to what extent the political framing of human trafficking in the Netherlands differs from the international focus. To that end, this article applies the literature on framing to a qualitative content analysis of parliamentary debates during the 2018-2019 meeting year. The results show that the political framing of human trafficking in the Netherlands deviates little from an internationally dominant ‘crime frame’. This concerns a framework within which human trafficking is mainly depicted as a malicious (and organized) crime, in which particularly women and minors are sexually exploited, and a criminal justice approach to exploitation is proposed. Holding onto this traditional portrayal and approach to human trafficking can have adverse consequences for a holistic approach to human trafficking, which should also address other forms of exploitation and victims.