Privacy, promotionalism and the proliferation of state-performed criminal record screening in the Netherlands: how a restrictive legal framework can still result in a steep increase of criminal background checks

The Netherlands has endorsed a unique system regarding the management, disclosure and screening of criminal records. Disclosure to third parties is strongly restricted, yet all (potential) employees can request a government agency to provide a risk assessment − known as a Certificate of Conduct (‘VOG’ in Dutch) − for every kind of employment application to determine whether they are fit for a given job. This article explains how and why this Dutch policy approach, deemed respectful of individual privacy rights, can nonetheless go hand in hand with the promotion, proliferation and pervasiveness of criminal record screening. It challenges the often dichotomic approach of the comparative literature on criminal record policies and helps understand that privacy protection alone cannot be fully equated with the rehabilitation and re-entry in society of people with a criminal history. Although the Dutch criminal record system avoids any unnecessary publicity of criminal record data, it nonetheless triggers adverse impairments on reintegration processes through stigmatisation and exclusion resulting from the ubiquitous use of Certificates of Conduct in the labour market. This questions the promotion of the Dutch screening instrument as an exemplary model for criminal record information sharing within Europe.Criminal Justice: Legitimacy, accountability, and effectivit

Dutch Criminal Record Screening in Light of International Children’s Rights Standards

Children in conflict with the law are considered to be in need of particular care. Children’s rights standards, therefore, explicitly encourage consideration of the child’s best interests and respect for the child’s privacy. More specifically, they encourage the promotion of the child’s dignity, worth, reintegration and social participation, and the avoidance of processes of stigmatisation. Accordingly, these principles should be taken into account when applying measures that limit young offenders in their fundamental rights beyond their sentence. This chapter explores how a childhood criminal record can result in collateral consequences after conviction in the Dutch labour market. In particular, it examines the Dutch system of storing criminal record information and using this information for pre-employment screening. The relevant law, policy guidelines and case law will then be evaluated using international children’s rights standards. Alongside this, findings from qualitative, empirical research are discussed that depict the impact of having a criminal record on juveniles ’ and young adults’ processes of re-entry, particularly into the Dutch labour market. The question this chapter thus aims to answer is to what extent the special position of juveniles, according to international children’s rights standards, is respected when restricting access both to employment and to education based on a juvenile criminal record. Lastly, this chapter suggests how children’s rights standards could be better upheld in applying collateral consequences, ensuring that due consideration is given to the child’s best interests.Criminal Justice: Legitimacy, accountability, and effectivit