Samenvatting

Offenders can be deprived from their profession or office by a court. The Dutch legislator has recently increased possibilities for the judge to disqualify offenders who committed certain crimes within their professional occupation. This article discusses a study on the penalty of expulsion from a profession or an office. It appears that this penalty is not often imposed. Most cases concern sex crime cases and fraud cases. Although it is a penalty, the prosecutors and judges general aim at preventing new crimes when considering a disqualification. It is not known whether convicted persons comply to this penalty. The prosecution does not actively supervise observance. Respondents in this study fear that relapse into new crime within a profession happens, but figures are lacking on this point. Positive and negative sides of the disqualification are discussed in the article.