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Law of the 5th of May 2019 amending the Criminal Code
Promising practice :
Organisation
Minister of Justice (Koen Geens) and Belgian Chamber of Representatives.
Start and end date
Start date:
The law came into force on 5 May 2019.
End date:
There is no end date.
Scope
National – law amending the Belgian Criminal Code.
Target group(s)
The courts and the public prosecutor’s office.
Funding
No funding for the practice.
Objectives
- Increase the use of alternative measures to curb racist, discriminatory, sexist and negationist delinquency.
- Combat recidivism related to discrimination and racism more effectively.
Outputs
Law text – amendment of the Belgian Criminal Code.
Description
The law amends the Criminal Code, to increase the use of alternative measures to curb racist and xenophobic delinquency and combat recidivism related to discrimination more effectively. The law gives judges, in cases of violations of the negationism law, the anti-racism law, the anti-discrimination law and the sexism law, the opportunity to give directions so that the interpretation of community service is related to the fight against negationism, racism, discrimination or sexism.
Critical success factors
- The law allows judges to more frequently apply alternative measures in the framework of probationary measures that can be imposed following a conviction on the basis of the anti-racism, anti-discrimination, negationism or sexism law.
- To make the law applicable in practice, the framework conditions should also be guaranteed. For example, sufficient resources must be provided to competent services (such as mediation services) so that specific projects on alternative measures can be developed and initiated with civil society organisations and other organisations. A pilot project has now been launched to explore the different options regarding alternative measures.
Actors involved in the design and implementation of the practice
Pilot projects are currently under way in which the public prosecutor’s office is looking at ways to implement these alternative measures in practice. The equality bodies and civil society organisations will also be consulted at a later stage.
Monitoring and evaluation
No monitoring or evaluation of the law has been carried out.
Publicly available contact details
Equal Opportunities Team, Federal Public Service Justice
Email: equal@just.fgov.be