Capital punishment in the Netherlands

Capital punishment in the Netherlands (Dutch: doodstraf in Nederland) was abolished in 1870 in criminal law after the States General recognized it to be "cruel and uncivilized".

The bill was introduced by liberal-catholic Minister of Justice Franciscus van Lilaar and debated in both the Senate and House of Representatives for seven days before approval.

A few years after gaining independence in 1815, the Kingdom of the Netherlands determined that the death penalty could be carried out through beheading.

The last persons to be executed under military law were SS officers Andries Jan Pieters and Artur Albrecht in March 1952.

Capital punishment remained a legal military option until 1983 when it was explicitly forbidden in the Constitution of the Netherlands.

Europe holds the greatest concentration of abolitionist states (blue). Map current as of 2022
Abolished for all offences
Abolished in practice
Retains capital punishment
A NVU 2010 demonstration in Arnhem, propagating the "death penalty for child rapists and murderous pedophiles"